Bipolar children exhibit more inflammation than healthy children, according to a paper presented by Pandey, Dwivedi, and Pavuluri from the University of Illinois at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in December 2009.

In “Pro-inflammatory cytokines in plasma of patients with pediatric bipolar disorder,” the researchers described their study in which 21 normal controls were compared with 22 children with pediatric bipolar disorder who were unmedicated for a period of at least two weeks. The level of the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1b (IL-1b) was significantly higher in the pediatric bipolar patients compared with controls, and levels of TNF alpha, another inflammatory marker, were significantly higher as well. Not only is this evidence of increased inflammatory processes in pediatric bipolar disorder, but TNF alpha is associated with activation of transcription factors and the initiation of preprogrammed cell death, or apoptosis.

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