Elevated basal intracellular calcium (Ca 2 þ ) levels ([Ca 2 þ ] B ) in B lymphoblast cell lines (BLCLs) from bipolar I disorder (BD-I) patients implicate altered Ca 2 þ homeostasis in this illness. Chronic lithium treatment affects key proteins modulating intracellular Ca 2 þ signaling. Thus, we sought to determine if chronic exposure to therapeutic lithium concentrations also modifies intracellular Ca 2 þ homeostasis in this surrogate cellular model of signal transduction disturbances in BD. BLCLs from BD-I (N ¼ 26) and healthy subjects (N ¼ 17) were regrown from frozen stock and incubated with 0.75 mM lithium or vehicle for 24 h (acute) or 7 days (chronic). [Ca 2 þ ] B , lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)-stimulated Ca 2 þ mobilization ([Ca 2 þ ] S ), and thapsigargin-induced store-operated Ca 2 þ entry (SOCE) were determined using ratiometric fluorometry with Fura-2. Compared with vehicle, chronic lithium exposure resulted in significantly higher [Ca 2 þ ] B (F ¼ 8.47; p ¼ 0.006) in BLCLs from BD-I and healthy subjects. However, peak LPA-stimulated [Ca 2 þ ] S and SOCE were significantly reduced (F ¼ 11.1, p ¼ 0.002 and F ¼ 8.36, p ¼ 0.007, respectively). Acute lithium exposure did not significantly affect measured parameters. In summary, the effect of chronic lithium to elevate [Ca 2 þ ] B in BLCLs while attenuating both receptor-stimulated and SOCE components of intracellular Ca 2 þ mobilization in BLCLs suggests that modulation of intracellular Ca 2 þ homeostasis may be important to the therapeutic action of lithium.