Year: 1997 Source: Biological Psychiatry, v.42, no.10, (November 1997), p.871-875 SIEC No: 19980288

The possible pathophysiological significance of mitochondrial DNA deletions in bipolar disorder were studied by examining the concentration of the 4977-base-pair deletion in mitrochondrial DNA in the autopsied brains of 7 patients with bipolar disorder, 9 suicide victims & 9 controls. When the bipolar & suicide groups were combined they tended to have higher levels of the deletion. The ratio of deleted to wild-type mitochondrial DNA was significantly higher in bipolar patients than in controls.