LACK OF EVIDENCE FOR A MAJOR LOCUS FOR BIPOLAR DISORDER IN THE PERICENTROMERIC REGION OF CHROMOSOME-18 IN IRISH PEDIGREES

Seven families, multiply affected by bipolar mood disorder, have been collected from the Irish population and have been genotyped with micro satellite markers from the pericentromeric region of chromosome 18, a region that has been implicated as a site for a susceptibility gene fo r this relative common psychiatric disorder, The families significantl y excluded linkage of bipolar disorder to this region under various mo dels. Although the data provided no evidence of linkage heterogeneity among families, the number of families investigated may be too small t o exclude completely the possibility of linkage in a small number of f amilies. (C) 1997 Society of Biological Psychiatry.