Andrew and Paul collaborated with Dr. Chris Ross and Shanshan Zhu to publish a new paper in PNAS on the behavioral effects of a forebrain deletion of Ank3. These mice exhibit behavioral phenotypes consistent with bipolar mania (i.e. hyperactivity, decreased anxiety-like behavior). Interestingly, like many patients with bipolar disorder, these mice normalize with lithium or valproate treatment. In addition, these mice are more sensitive to chronic stress, which induces a depression-like phenotype. Histological studies demonstrate cortical microcircuitry alterations, which are likely involved in pathogenesis. Overall, these findings show that this Ank3 conditional null mouse model recapitulates core features of human bipolar disorder, and may be useful for studying disease pathophysiology and for developing experimental therapeutics. Read more about our this work here.