Regular Research ArticlesBrain Lithium Levels and Effects on Cognition and Mood in Geriatric Bipolar Disorder: A Lithium-7 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study
Section snippets
METHODS
The Institutional Review Boards at McLean Hospital and Boston University School of Medicine approved this study. Subjects were recruited through a) the McLean Hospital Mood Disorders Division, Geriatric Psychiatry Research Program and through referrals from the McLean Hospital Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatient Service, Partial Hospital Program and Outpatient Clinic; and b) the Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine. Subjects were also recruited through flyers posted around
RESULTS
Table 1 gives a description of the subjects' demographics, mean lithium dose, use of extended release lithium, and the number of other psychotropic medications they were receiving. Table 2 shows the subjects' age, duration of illness, and daily dose of lithium. For the older subjects (50–85 years), serum lithium levels were acquired on two occasions, on the day of the neurocognitive testing (serum lithium level = 0.68 ± 0.15 meq/L [N = 10]), and on the day of the MRS examination (serum lithium
CONCLUSIONS
This study supported previous reports,10, 28, 30 of the presence of a correlation between serum lithium levels and brain lithium levels in younger adults. Our findings did not, however, find evidence to support the hypothesis that advancing age beyond midlife is associated with an elevation in the brain to serum lithium ratio. Furthermore, we found evidence that elevations in brain, but not serum, lithium levels were associated with executive dysfunction and higher depression rating scores in a
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Cited by (0)
This study was supported by an NARSAD (National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders); National Institute of Mental Health (MH58681 (PFR) and MH001978 (CMM)); Commonwealth Research Center of Harvard Medical School; Harvard Research Center for Excellence; The National Center for Research Resources (M01RR00533); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K23AA13149 to CCS); and Gennaro Acampora Charity Trust to the Division of Psychiatry, Boston Medical Center. Disclosures: Brent Forester: Speakers Bureau: Pfizer, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Abbot, Novartis, Janssen; Grant Support: NARSAD, Abbott, GlaxoSmithKlein, Pfizer, Rogers Family Foundation; Clinical Investigator Training Program: Harvard MIT Health Sciences and Technology–Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in collaboration with Pfizer and Merck & Co.; Chris C. Streeter: Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, Inc., Karns law Group, Trustees of Boston University, Norcal Mutual Insurance Company, Deluca and Weizenbaum, LTD, UCB Pharma, Bristol Myers Squibb, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; Consultant: Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Research Support: NIH, GSK; Perry F. Renshaw: Consultant: GSK, Novartis, Kyowa Hakko. Grant Support: Eli Lilly.