Washington, Mar 20 (ANI): A new study by scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, US, has found that the bipolar disorder commonly known as manic-depression, may be due to a screwed up body clock.

Mania, in medical terms refers to a severe brain disorder with consequences ranging from hyperactivity and impulsive behavior to grandiose delusions and rage.

The study that was conducted on mice, was carried out by a team of researchers led by neurobiologist Colleen McClung, who believes that it might help in the development of better and more targeted therapies.

"This should allow us to develop better and more targeted therapies in the future," Live Science quoted her, as saying.

"It has long been speculated that abnormalities in a person's internal circadian clock can contribute to a wide range of disorders, including nearly all psychiatric disorders, sleep disorders, and even some aspects of heart disease and cancer," McClung said.

For about three years, the researchers tested mice with a mutant version of a critical circadian rhythm gene, dubbed Clock.

Their discovery that the rodents are the best lab animal version of human mania seen to date, has led them to suggest that the Clock gene and potentially other circadian rhythm genes are important factors involved in mania.

The scientists noted that the mice with the mutant Clock gene were not only more hyperactive and slept less, but also were more likely to take risks, spending more time in the middle of an open field where they could get snapped up by a predator, and proved less daunted by bobcat urine.

And as is the case with the human version of mania, lithium alleviated the manic-like behaviors in these mutants.

"This mouse allows us the opportunity to discover the mechanisms by which mood stabilizers like lithium lead to their therapeutic effects. This has been somewhat of a mystery," McClung said.

"For certain susceptible individuals, disruptions in normal sleep-wake rhythms or changes in season lead to severe depressive or manic episodes," McClung said.

Comment: Disputing the time schedule, [Daylight Savings time] is one method of causing these effects which may have been intentional.

"Through better understanding of how the circadian system interacts with the circuits that regulate mood, this will greatly aid in our understanding of major depression, seasonal affective disorder, and other psychiatric disorders," she added.

Comment: Your circuits are being manipulated for treatment. These moods are called EMOTIONS, they are located in the dictionary.

The study appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (ANI)