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GSK-3β Gene Expression in Human Postmortem Brain: Regional Distribution, Effects of Age and Suicide

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Abstract

Glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3β) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of mood disorders and schizophrenia. To examine its role in suicide, we determined GSK-3β messenger RNA (mRNA) in human postmortem brain from suicide and normal control subjects using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. We found that GSK-3β mRNA was highly abundant in almost all of the 12 brain areas we studied. We also found a significant age effect on GSK-3β and that GSK-3β mRNA level were significantly higher in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus of teenage normal controls compared with adult normal controls and was significantly decreased in PFC of teenage suicide but not adult suicide victims compared with respective normal control subjects. The decrease observed in the mRNA levels in teenage suicide but not in adult suicide victims may represent a neurodevelopmentally associated decrease and may be important in the pathophysiology of teenage suicide.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant RO1 MH 48153 (Dr. Pandey) and KO1 MH 01836 and RO1 MH 068777 (Dr. Dwivedi) and R01 MH60744 (Dr. Roberts) from the National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, MD; and by a Distinguished Investigator grant (Dr. Pandey) and a Standard Research grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, New York, NY (Dr. Dwivedi) and a grant from NARSAD (Dr. Dwivedi). We thank Barbara Brown, B.S., and Miljana Petkovic, B.S., for their help in organizing the brain tissue. We also thank the members of the Maryland Brain Collection at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center for their efforts, particularly in family interviews and dissection. We are grateful for the cooperation of Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, The Psychiatric Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Ghanshyam N. Pandey, Yogesh Dwivedi, Hooriyah S. Rizavi, Tara Teppen & Gabor L. Gaszner

  2. Department of Psych-Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1530 3rd Ave S, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA

    Rosalinda C. Roberts

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland, P.O. Box 21247, Baltimore, MD, 21228, USA

    Robert R. Conley

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  1. Ghanshyam N. Pandey
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  5. Gabor L. Gaszner
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Correspondence to Ghanshyam N. Pandey.

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Pandey, G.N., Dwivedi, Y., Rizavi, H.S. et al. GSK-3β Gene Expression in Human Postmortem Brain: Regional Distribution, Effects of Age and Suicide. Neurochem Res 34, 274–285 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9770-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9770-1

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