Lithium, introduced in late 1940, was the “wonder drug” earlier in psychiatry. It ‘was the first drug to treat manic and depressive episodes and remains among one of the most effective treatments for this disease.The identification of these molecular actions of lithium coincided with the discovery of the region of the brain volume deficits in imaging studies of people with bipolar disorder. In particular, a generation of research studies identified changes, mainly a reduction in the size of brain regions involved in regulating mood. These studies have also begun to provide evidence that some treatments for bipolar disorder could be to increase the volumes of these brain regions.
Over the past 15 years, as the molecular mechanisms underlying the treatment of bipolar disorder began to emerge, the basic research studies in animals have begun to identify and possible neuroprotective effects of this drug neurotrophic important.
In a massive effort to research published in Biological Psychiatry, eleven international research groups have worked together for brain imaging data of adults with bipolar disorder. This allowed them to conduct an analysis of mega-to evaluate differences in brain structure among individuals with bipolar disorder and healthy control subjects.
“This important mega-analysis provides strong support for regional structural brain changes associated with bipolar disorder, but also sends a signal of hope that the cure for this disease can reduce some of these deficits,” said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.
They found that people with bipolar disorder has increased right lateral ventricle, the left temporal lobe and right putamen volumes. People with bipolar disorder who were not taking lithium had a reduction in brain volume and hippocampus compared with healthy subjects for comparison. Important, however, the bipolar patients taking lithium showed a significant increase in the volume of the hippocampus and amygdala compared with patients not treated with lithium and healthy control subjects. Reduced brain volume was significantly associated with duration of illness in bipolar subjects.