Lithium - the first mood stabilizer for treating manic depression / bipolar di... - The Diigo Meta page

• 02 Nov 09
  

  Julie Gilbert

  history of lithium

  history lithium

  • It was Australian psychiatrist John Cade who, in 1949, published the first paper  on the use of lithium in the treatment of acute mania. The U.S. Food and Drug  Administration did not approve lithium for use until 1970.
  • in 1998, University of Wisconsin researchers unlocked the mystery. The secret of  lithium has to do with nerve cells in the brain, and the receptors for the neurotransmitter  glutamate.

  • Lithium and Glutamate Stabilization

    The University of Wisconsin  researchers found that lithium exerts a dual effect on receptors for the  neurotransmitter glutamate - acting to keep the amount of glutamate active  between cells at a stable, healthy level, neither too much nor too little. 

    UW Medical School professor of pharmacology Dr. Lowell Hokin, who  directed the research, said that from their research it could be postulated that  too much glutamate in the space between neurons causes mania, and too little,  depression. There has to be more to it than that, since antidepressant  medications, for example, work on the receptors of other neurotransmitters such  as serotonin and  dopamine.  However, this was certainly a giant step forward in understanding the biological  basis of bipolar disorder.

  1 more annotation...

• 12 Mar 06
  

  Fenman .

  bipolar lithium medication treatment

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