The current investigation aimed at analyzing the correlation between gut microbiome diversity and the methylation of the clock gene ARNTL in individuals with Bipolar Disorder (BD).
Therefore, we conducted an analysis of the relationship between clock genes (as distal risk factors) with clinical characteristics and the course of bipolar disorder.
This preliminary observation leads to hypothesize a role for the CLOCK gene polymorphism in the regulation of long-term illness recurrence in bipolar disorder.
Since stressful life events or increased vulnerability to stress are risk factors for multiple psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), alcohol use disorder (AUD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), we propose that modulation of the stress response is a common mechanism by which circadian clock genes affect these illnesses.