The platelet intracellular calcium response to serotonin is augmented in bipolar manic and depressed patients

Abstract

The serotinergic system is widely implicated in the pathophysiology of affective disorder. In this study, basal levels of intracellular calcium as well as the effects of serotonin on intracellular calcium were studied in bipolar manic (N = 21), bipolar depressed (N = 19), bipolar euthymic (N = 20) and normal control (N = 20) subjects. At a serotonin concentration of 100 nm, there was an elevation in intracellular calcium readings, with the highest mean levels in the manic group (158·6, SD = 105·1) followed by the depressed (140·6, SD = 76·4), controls (122·8, SD = 61·6) and the euthymics (96·2, SD = 31·0). The difference between manics and euthymics reached statistcal significance (P = 0·018..