The etiology of mood disorders is unknown, a critical problem considering their lifetime prevalence of ~20%. Many studies support a role of dysregulated GSK3 in contributing to mood disorders including studies of human postmortem brain, peripheral cells, and genetics, and behavioral studies in glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) transgenic mice and with GSK3 inhibitors. Lithium, the classical mood stabilizer used to treat bipolar disorder, inhibits GSK3 by a dual mechanism, directly inhibiting enzyme activity and increasing the inhibitory serine-phosphorylation of GSK3. This project will extend key findings from our current period of support that provide important links between lithium's inhibition of GSK3 and susceptibility to mood disorders in behavior, neurogenesis, signaling, and developmental studies. These topics represent novel findings by this laboratory, indicative of the innovation and productivity of this project, and significantly contribute to progress in understanding the etiology of mood disorders and mechanisms of action of therapeutic drugs that should help to develop improved interventions.
Specific Aim 1 will test if serine-phosphorylation of GSK3 regulates mood-relevant behaviors. We will use isoform-selective GSK3?21A/21A/?9A/9A knockin mice, where the regulatory serine of either GSK3 isoform is mutated to alanines, for behavioral tests to clarify the regulation of mood relevant behaviors by active GSK3. Since neurogenesis may be involved in mood disorder susceptibility and/or therapeutic responses, Specific Aim 2 will test if GSK3 regulates the plasticity of neurogenesis. We will test if GSK3 knockin mice display altered neurogenesis increased by exercise and impaired by chronic stress, relate to mood-relevant behaviors, and examine mechanisms. Vulnerability to mood disorders is greatest during development. Since we found GSK3 levels are elevated several-fold in juvenile and adolescent mouse brain, the increased GSK3 may contribute to developmentally-regulated susceptibility to mood disorders.
Specific Aim 3 will test mechanisms by which dysregulated GSK3 may be involved in mood-relevant behaviors and responses to therapeutic drugs. We will test if the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine involves inhibition of GSK3, test if neurotrophins or inflammatory molecules are altered by GSK3 and associated with susceptibilities to mood-relevant behaviors and neurogenesis studied in SA1 and SA2, and examine changes in GSK3 association in protein complexes that regulate signaling.
Specific Aim 4 will test the developmental profile of heightened susceptibility to depression-like behavior and hyperactivity in GSK3 knockin mice and developmental responses to drugs. Altogether, this project will continue to address important problems concerning the causes and treatments of mood disorders.

Public Health Relevance

Mood disorders afflict approximately 20% of the population of the United States at some point in their lifetimes. However, because the underlying biochemical causes of these diseases are not known, treatments often do not adequately provide therapeutic benefits. The classical mood stabilizer lithium is an inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3). Increasing evidence suggests this contributes to lithium's therapeutic effects and that GSK3 is dysregulated in mood disorders. This project will address potential causes of susceptibilities to mood disorders associated with dysregulated GSK3 and lithium's therapeutic effects with the aim of understanding the etiologies of mood disorders and developing better therapeutic interventions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH038752-28
Application #
8247461
Study Section
Molecular Neuropharmacology and Signaling Study Section (MNPS)
Program Officer
Nadler, Laurie S
Project Start
1984-02-01
Project End
2016-05-31
Budget Start
2012-09-01
Budget End
2013-05-31
Support Year
28
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$380,380
Indirect Cost
$130,380
Name
University of Miami School of Medicine
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
052780918
City
Coral Gables
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
33146
Grieco, Steven F; Cheng, Yuyan; Eldar-Finkelman, Hagit et al. (2017) Up-regulation of insulin-like growth factor 2 by ketamine requires glycogen synthase kinase-3 inhibition. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 72:49-54
Jope, Richard S; Cheng, Yuyan; Lowell, Jeffrey A et al. (2017) Stressed and Inflamed, Can GSK3 Be Blamed? Trends Biochem Sci 42:180-192
Grieco, Steven F; Velmeshev, Dmitry; Magistri, Marco et al. (2017) Ketamine up-regulates a cluster of intronic miRNAs within the serotonin receptor 2C gene by inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase-3. World J Biol Psychiatry 18:445-456
Pardo, Marta; Beurel, Eleonore; Jope, Richard S (2017) Cotinine administration improves impaired cognition in the mouse model of Fragile X syndrome. Eur J Neurosci 45:490-498
Pardo, M; Abrial, E; Jope, R S et al. (2016) GSK3? isoform-selective regulation of depression, memory and hippocampal cell proliferation. Genes Brain Behav 15:348-55
Beurel, Eléonore; Grieco, Steven F; Amadei, Celeste et al. (2016) Ketamine-induced inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 contributes to the augmentation of ?-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor signaling. Bipolar Disord 18:473-480
Cheng, Yuyan; Pardo, Marta; Armini, Rubia de Souza et al. (2016) Stress-induced neuroinflammation is mediated by GSK3-dependent TLR4 signaling that promotes susceptibility to depression-like behavior. Brain Behav Immun 53:207-222
Cheng, Yuyan; Jope, Richard S; Beurel, Eleonore (2015) A pre-conditioning stress accelerates increases in mouse plasma inflammatory cytokines induced by stress. BMC Neurosci 16:31
Pardo, Marta; King, Margaret K; Perez-Costas, Emma et al. (2015) Impairments in cognition and neural precursor cell proliferation in mice expressing constitutively active glycogen synthase kinase-3. Front Behav Neurosci 9:55
Beurel, Eleonore; Grieco, Steven F; Jope, Richard S (2015) Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3): regulation, actions, and diseases. Pharmacol Ther 148:114-31

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