Lithium

A New Method to Measure Brain Serotonin Synthesis in vivo. II. A Practical Autoradiographic Method Tested in Normal and Lithium-Treated Rats

“…Our lithium-treated rats had concentrations of lithium in the plasma of � 2 /-LEq/ml (Table 2), which is well above the min imal level of therapeutic efficacy in humans (Stew art et aI., 1988). In our experiments we have found an increased rate of serotonin synthesis in some brain structures of lithium-treated rats, but, con trary to the findings of Perez-Cruet et al (1971) and Goodnick and Gershon (1985), we did not observe any change in the plasma concentration of free or total tryptophan (Table 1). Gessa and Tagliamonte (1974) have reported an increase of 71% in the plasma free tryptophan concentration in rats sub jected to mild acute stress, which probably cannot be directly related to the animal handling in our experiments.…”

“…An independent confirmation that the slope of the line relates to the rate of synthesis was sought in the measurements made in lithium-treated rats, the treatment previously shown by biochemical meth ods to increase the rate of serotonin formation (Sheard and Aghajanian, 1970;Perez-Cruet et aI., 1971;Knapp and Mandell, 1973;Mandell and Knapp, 1979). The usefulness of lithium in the treat ment of the depressive and manic phases in patients with bipolar affective disorder and its ability to in crease brain serotonin levels have been well docu mented (Gershon and Goodnick, 1981;Goodnick and Gershon, 1985). The treatment we selected was that shown by Perez-Cruet et al (1971) to increase the rate of serotonin synthesis in rat brain.…”

Cognition activators

“…31 The scientific study of AD has been hampered by (1) the lack of early, unequivocal diagnostic methods, (2) an unknown etiology, (3) uncertainty regarding the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the d i~e a s e ,~' ,~~ and (4) the absence of truly effective therapeutic agents and appropriately validated animal models.…”

Signalling pathways in the brain: Cellular transduction of mood stabilisation in the treatment of manic-depressive illness

“…In this paper we review our current understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of lithium, effects which likely represent key biochemical events underlying its therapeutic efficacy. Space limitations preclude us from discussing in detail the extensive body of literature pertaining to lithium's effects on neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and receptor systems; these have been extensively covered in recent reviews [11,36–38].…”