Researchers identify possible mechanism for how lithium stabilizes the mood of people with bipolar disorder.

MedWire(4/21, Cowen) reported that, according to a study to be published in the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms, researchers from the UK’s Cardiff University “have identified a possible mechanism for how lithium stabilizes the mood of people with bipolar disorder.” In performing “laboratory tests on cells,” the team “found that lithium affects a molecule called phosphatidyl inositol triphosphate (PIP3),” which is “important for controlling brain cell signaling. Specifically, lithium inhibits an enzyme called inositol monophosphatase (IMPase) that is required for making a simple sugar called inositol, from which PIP3 is made.” Notably, “increasing the amount of IMPase causes higher levels of PIP3, which can be reduced with lithium treatment.” Previously, research has linked the IMPA2 gene, “a variant of IMPase, to bipolar disorder.” The present study “suggests that lithium could counteract the changes in IMPA2.”