ArticleJournal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN2012
Large positive effect of lithium on prefrontal cortex N-acetylaspartate in patients with bipolar disorder: 2-centre study.
Article in Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lithium effects in the frontolimbic circuitry: a systematic review of neuroimaging findings in bipolar disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Glutamatergic and N-Acetylaspartate Metabolites in Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Studies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Widespread white matter microstructural abnormalities in bipolar disorder: evidence from mega- and meta-analyses across 3033 individuals.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Lithium: current state of the art and future directions.International journal of bipolar disorders · 2024Review
- Widespread intra-axonal signal fraction abnormalities in bipolar disorder from multicompartment diffusion MRI: Sensitivity to diagnosis, association with clinical features and pharmacologic treatment.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Psychopharmacological Treatment Algorithms of Manic/Mixed and Depressed Episodes in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder.Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology · 2022Review
- Chronic lithium treatment ameliorates ketamine-induced mania-like behavior via the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway.Zoological research · 2022Article
- Review
- Lithium as a Neuroprotective Agent for Bipolar Disorder: An Overview.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2022Review
- Exploring neurometabolic alterations in bipolar disorder with suicidal ideation based on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and machine learning technology.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Altered neurochemistry in the anterior white matter of bipolar children and adolescents: a multivoxelMolecular psychiatry · 2021Article
- Frequency-Specific Changes in the Fractional Amplitude of the Low-Frequency Fluctuations in the Default Mode Network in Medication-Free Patients With Bipolar II Depression: A Longitudinal Functional MRI Study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Diagnosis and body mass index effects on hippocampal volumes and neurochemistry in bipolar disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2017Article
- Lithium: from mood stabilizer to putative cognitive enhancer.Neural regeneration research · 2016Article
- Perturbational Profiling of Metabolites in Patient Fibroblasts Implicates α-Aminoadipate as a Potential Biomarker for Bipolar Disorder.Molecular neuropsychiatry · 2016Article
- A new look at an old drug: neuroprotective effects and therapeutic potentials of lithium salts.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2016Review
- N-acetylaspartate normalization in bipolar depression after lamotrigine treatment.Bipolar disorders · 2015Article
- Lithium in the treatment of bipolar disorder: pharmacology and pharmacogenetics.Molecular psychiatry · 2015Review
- Normal Metabolic Levels in Prefrontal Cortex in Euthymic Bipolar I Patients with and without Suicide Attempts.Neural plasticity · 2015Article
- Insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, and brain structure in bipolar disorders.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNeuroprotective effects of lithium (Li) have been well documented in tissue cultures and animal models, whereas human data continue to be limited. Previous studies investigating the association between Li treatment and brain N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a putative neuronal marker, showed mixed results because of methodological heterogeneity.
methodsTo investigate the effects of Li on prefrontal cortex NAA levels, we compared patients with bipolar disorder from specialized Li clinics in Berlin and Halifax with at least 2 years of ongoing Li treatment (Li group), patients with lifetime Li exposure of less than 3 months more than 2 years ago (non-Li group) and healthy controls. Participants in both patient groups had at least 10 years of illness and 5 episodes. We measured left prefrontal NAA levels using 1.5-T magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
resultsWe enrolled 27 participants in the Li, 16 in the non-Li and 21 in the healthy control groups. The non-Li group had lower prefrontal NAA levels than the Li group (t41 = -3.44, corrected p < 0.01) or control participants (t35 = -2.91, corrected p < 0.05), who did not differ from the Li group (t46 = -0.14, p = 0.89). The same pattern of prefrontal NAA differences was replicated in both sites. In addition, there was a negative correlation between prefrontal NAA and duration of illness in the non-Li group (r = -0.60, p = 0.019) but not in the Li group (r = 0.07, p = 0.74). LIMITATIONS: Study limitations include the crosssectional design and exposure to other medications.
conclusionWhereas patients with bipolar disorder, substantial illness burden and limited lifetime Li exposure had significantly lower prefrontal NAA levels than controls, Li-treated patients with similar illness burden showed prefrontal NAA levels comparable to those of healthy controls. These findings provide indirect support for neuroprotective effects of Li and for negative effects of illness burden on prefrontal NAA levels in patients with bipolar disorder.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.