Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 11 May 1973:
Vol. 180. no. 4086, pp. 645 - 647
DOI: 10.1126/science.180.4086.645
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Short- and Long-Term Lithium Administration: Effects on the Brain's Serotonergic Biosynthetic Systems

Suzanne Knapp 1 and Arnold J. Mandell 1

1 Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla 92037

Short-term treatment with lithium chloride stimulates the uptake of tryptophan and its conversion to serotonin by striate synaptosomes. Preincubation of striate synaptosomes with L-tryptophan and in vivo administration of L-tryptophan appear to act in a similar manner. Midbrain tryptophan hydroxylase activity is reduced in temporal continuity with the lithium-induced activation of tryptophan uptake and conversion. By 10 days, conversion of tryptophan to serotonin in nerve endings becomes a joint function of the maintained increased uptake of tryptophan and a decreased level of tryptophan hydroxylase activity in nerve endings. The occurrence of this delayed alteration corresponds in time to the previously described axoplasmic flow rate for tryptophan hydroxylase.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Bipolar Disorder.
R.H. Belmaker (2004)
N. Engl. J. Med. 351, 476-486
   Full Text »    PDF »
Differential effect of lithium treatment on fenfluramine-induced decreases in food intake and locomotor activity in rats.
C.S. Aulakh, J. Zohar, K.M. Wozniak, J.L. Hill, and D.L. Murphy (1991)
J Psychopharmacol 5, 149-154
   Abstract »    PDF »
Lithium Treatment and Serotoninergic Function: Neuroendocrine and Behavioral Responses to Intravenous Tryptophan in Affective Disorder.
L. H. Price, D. S. Charney, P. L. Delgado, and G. R. Heninger (1989)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 46, 13-19
   Abstract »    PDF »
Cerebrospinal Fluid Monoamine Metabolite Levels in Male Arsonists.
M. Virkkunen, A. Nuutila, F. K. Goodwin, and M. Linnoila (1987)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 44, 241-247
   Abstract »    PDF »
Effect of 5-Hydroxytryptophan on Serum Cortisol Levels in Major Affective Disorders: III. Effect of Antidepressants and Lithium Carbonate.
H. Y. Meltzer, M. Lowy, A. Robertson, P. Goodnick, and R. Perline (1984)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 41, 391-397
   Abstract »    PDF »
Lithium increases serotonin release and decreases serotonin receptors in the hippocampus.
S. Treiser, C. Cascio, T. O'Donohue, N. Thoa, D. Jacobowitz, and K. Kellar (1981)
Science 213, 1529-1531
   Abstract »    PDF »
Asymmetry and Mood, Emergent Properties of Serotonin Regulation: A Proposed Mechanism of Action of Lithium.
A. J. Mandell and S. Knapp (1979)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 36, 909-916
   Abstract »    PDF »
L-Tryptophan in Mania: Contribution to a Permissive Hypothesis of Affective Disorders.
A. J. Prange Jr., I. C. Wilson, C. W. Lynn, L. B. Alltop, and R. A. Stikeleather (1974)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 30, 56-62
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)