Lithium—a role in hyperlipidemia?

Quercetin Beneficial Role in the Homeostatic Variation of Certain Trace Elements in Dyslipidemic Mice

“…Flavonoids can bind metal ions in vivo, thus reducing their uptake and storage in internal organs [43] as was observed in our study.…”

“…ere are studies that pointed out that high levels of lithium [43] and nickel [44] in blood after administration of these elements are incriminated to produce dyslipidemia. Furthermore, administration of some flavonoids (naringin) reduced the accumulation of Ni in blood and liver [44] being partial in accordance with our findings related to the levels of Ni in blood and liver of dyslipidemic mice and the effects of quercetin.…”

Species-Specific Influence of Lithium on the Activity of SLC13A5 (NaCT): Lithium-Induced Activation Is Specific for the Transporter in Primates

“…The stimulation of human NaCT by Li 1 is associated with a marked increase in substrate affinity (Inoue et al, 2003), which interested us. Treatment with lithium in humans for affective disorders is associated with significant weight gain and increased circulating levels of triglycerides (Bergmann et al, 2007;Bardini et al, 2009). Because NaCT mediates concentrative uptake of citrate from the circulation into hepatocytes for subsequent use in cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis, we speculated that stimulation of NaCT-mediated delivery of citrate into hepatocytes for subsequent use for fat synthesis contributes to the weight gain associated with lithium therapy (Inoue et al, 2003;Ganapathy and Fei, 2005).…”

“…One of the unwanted side effects of lithium therapy in humans is the weight gain associated with an increase in the circulating levels of triglycerides and cholesterol (Bergmann et al, 2007;Bardini et al, 2009). Because NaCT facilitates the use of circulating citrate in liver cells for fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis, it is plausible that the Li 1 -induced activation of this transporter underlies this side effect.…”

Weight gain and metabolic issues of medicines used for bipolar disorder

“…We recently conducted a chart review to evaluate the changes in body weight and body mass index among psychiatric patients receiving lithium, valproate, or topiramate and found that patients receiving lithium or valproate gained a mean (SD) of 6.3 (9.0) kg and 6.4 (9.0) kg, respectively, whereas patients receiving topiramate lost a mean 1.2 (6.3) kg (F = 11.54, df = 2,198; P < 0.001) [10]. Lithium is unlikely to cause diabetes mellitus (except indirectly via weight gain) or dyslipidemia [14], although rare cases of possible lithium-induced dyslipidemias and diabetes have been reported [15,16].…”