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The CACNA1C risk variant for bipolar disorder influences limbic activity

Molecular Psychiatry volume 15, pages 1126–1127 (2010)Cite this article

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An enhanced limbic activity, particularly in the amygdala, is one of the most consistent findings in bipolar disorder. Here, we show that healthy carriers of the genome-wide-supported (rs1006737) risk allele for bipolar disorder display increased amygdala activity in response to reward.

Fluctuations in mood and emotions are inherent to human nature. Excessive deviations from normal, however, are defined as mood disorders. Bipolar disorder, which is characterized by emotional changes and mood swings from manic highs to depressive lows, has a high heritability of 60–80% and is genetically the most extensively studied mood disorder to date. Genome-wide significant association between bipolar disorder and a variant (rs1006737) in the CACNAC1C gene, which encodes the alpha subunit of the L-type voltage-dependent calcium channel CAv1.2, has been found in a meta-analysis of several large independent genome-wide association studies.1 In addition, this variant has recently also been reported to have a role in depression and schizophrenia.2

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

    M Wessa, J Linke, O Grimm & A V King

  2. Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

    S H Witt, V Nieratschker & M Rietschel

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

    C Esslinger, P Kirsch & O Grimm

  4. Department of Neurology, Universitätsklinikum Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

    M G Hennerici & A Gass

  5. Neurology/Neuroradiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    A Gass

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  1. M Wessa
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  2. J Linke
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  3. S H Witt
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  4. V Nieratschker
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  5. C Esslinger
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  10. A V King
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  11. M Rietschel
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Correspondence to M Wessa.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Molecular Psychiatry website

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Wessa, M., Linke, J., Witt, S. et al. The CACNA1C risk variant for bipolar disorder influences limbic activity. Mol Psychiatry 15, 1126–1127 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2009.103

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