¹Developmental Endocrinology Branch (DEB), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), USA

²Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology (LMCB), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), USA

³Clinical Neurogenetics Branch (CNB), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

⁴Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA

⁵Genetics & Endocrinology, Georgetown University Children’s Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) plays a key role in the regulation of the stress response. Abnormalities in CRH secretion have been documented in both the depression and manic phases of bipolar disorder (BPD). In the present study, we investigated genetic linkage between the CRH gene and BPD in 22 pedigrees. A highly informative, short tandem repeat (STR) polymorphism adjacent to the CRH gene on human chromosomal region 8q13 was used to examine linkage. Affected sibling pair (ASP) and the likelihood-based disequilibrium tests revealed nonsignificant values. We conclude that the CRH gene is not linked to BPD; if genes involved in the regulation of stress response are indeed linked to BPD, the search should be directed towards those that regulate CRH secretion or its effects on target tissues.

corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) gene; linkage; bipolar disorder; stress; chromosome 8q13; dinucleotide repeat polymorphism