Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 19, 2026
Developing a Rat Model for Bipolar Disorder
Published on: May 2, 2025
Monocyte and lymphocyte activation in bipolar disorder: a new piece in the puzzle of immune dysfunction in mood
Izabela Guimarães Barbosa1, Natália Pessoa Rocha2, Frankcinéia Assis2
1Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Investigação Médica (LIIM), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil (Drs Barbosa, Rocha, Assis, Vieira, and Teixeira); D epartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UT Health School of Medicine, Houston, Texas (Dr Soares); Laboratório de Imunologia do Envelhecimento, Instituto de Pesquisas Biomédicas, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS), Porto Alegre, Brazil (Dr Bauer). izabelagb@gmail.com.
Background:
This study tested the hypothesis that the low-grade inflammation presented in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with expansion of activated T cells, and this activated state may be due to a lack of peripheral regulatory cells.
Methods:
Specifically, we investigated the distribution of monocytes and lymphocyte subsets, and investigated Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines in plasma by flow cytometry. Twenty-one BD type I patients and 21 age- and sex-matched controls were recruited for this study.
Results:
BD patients had increased proportions of monocytes (CD14+). Regarding lymphocyte populations, BD patients presented reduced proportions of T cells (CD3+) and cytotoxic T cells (CD3+CD8+). BD patients also exhibited a higher percentage of activated T CD4+CD25+ cells, and a lower percentage of IL-10 expressing Treg cells.
Conclusions:
Our data shed some light into the underlying mechanisms involved with the chronic low-grade inflammatory profile described in BD patients.
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