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Telomere Length in Major Psychiatric Disorders: Is There Any Relationship Between Telomere Length and Oxidative Stress?

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Studies on Psychiatric Disorders

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Abstract

Patients with major psychiatric disorders mainly schizophrenia (SZ) and major depression (MD) and with bipolar disorder (BD) are prone to diseases associated with aging. They reveal tendency to have shorter natural life span than the general population. Telomeres, composed of a repetitive DNA sequence and associated proteins, are located at both ends of each chromosome and play an important role in preserving information of cell genome. In somatic cells, telomeres progressively shorten with each cell division which is an indicator of aging and reduction of body’s ability to regenerate in response to various damaging factors. Chronic oxidative stress that accompanies metabolic changes in the course of SZ, MD, and BD can accelerate telomere shortening. Cross-sectional studies on telomere length in blood leukocytes proved their shortening in patients with these major psychiatric disorders versus matched controls. One study described the inverse association of leukocyte telomere length with circulating markers of oxidative stress in MD patients. No studies on this topic that involved SZ and BD groups have been executed so far. Postmortem brain samples revealed distinct features of oxidative stress while no shortening of telomere length was found in SZ, MD, and BD. No results of prospective longitudinal studies devoted to analyze the rate of telomere shortening and intensity of oxidative stress in the course of SZ, MD, and BD have been published so far. Therefore, whether these major psychiatric disorders can accelerate telomere erosion (via mechanisms dependent on oxidative stress) in blood leukocytes and other somatic cells remains to be investigated.

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Abbreviations

ALT:

Alternative lengthening of telomeres

ApoE2 :

Apolipoprotein E2

BD:

Bipolar disorder

BD II:

Bipolar disorder type II

BD I:

Bipolar disorder type I

BMI:

Body mass index

CHD:

Coronary heart disease

COPD:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

DST:

Dexamethasone

ECT:

Electroconvulsive therapy

ELISA:

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

GST mu:

Glutathione S-transferase

HAM-A:

Hamilton anxiety score

HAM-D:

Hamilton depression score

MAOA:

Monoamine oxidase A

MD:

Major depression

NYHA:

New York Heart Association

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

PCR-RFLP:

PCR – restriction fragment length polymorphism

PTSD:

Posttraumatic stress disorder

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

STMN1:

Encoding stathmin

SZ:

Schizophrenia

TERT:

Encoding the catalytic subunit of the telomerase

TL:

Telomere length

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Acknowledgment

This work was partially supported by a grant from the EU Regional Development Fund through the Polish Innovation Economy Operational Program, contract N. UDAPOIG. 01.03.01-10-109/08-00.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Physiology, Medical University of Lodz, Mazowiecka 6/8, 92-215, Lodz, Poland

    Dariusz Nowak M.D., Ph.D.

  2. Sleep and Respiratory Disorders Center of the Chair of Experimental and Clinical Physiology, Medical University of Lodz, Mazowiecka St. 6/8, 92-215, Lodz, Poland

    Dariusz Nowak M.D., Ph.D.

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  1. Dariusz Nowak M.D., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Dariusz Nowak M.D., Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Psychiatry of the Chair of Experimental and Clinical Physiology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland

    Anna Dietrich-Muszalska

  2. Department of Neurochemistry, New York State Institute for Basic Research, Staten Island, New York, USA

    Ved Chauhan

  3. Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology & Biophysics, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

    Sylvain Grignon

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Nowak, D. (2015). Telomere Length in Major Psychiatric Disorders: Is There Any Relationship Between Telomere Length and Oxidative Stress?. In: Dietrich-Muszalska, A., Chauhan, V., Grignon, S. (eds) Studies on Psychiatric Disorders. Oxidative Stress in Applied Basic Research and Clinical Practice. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0440-2_21

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