ArticleThe international journal of neuropsychopharmacology2015
Telomerase dysregulation in the hippocampus of a rat model of depression: normalization by lithium.
Article in The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Role of telomere length and telomerase activity in accelerated cellular aging and major depressive disorder: a systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the association between depression and telomere length: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of Telomere Length in Alzheimer's Disease.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2016Pooled it
- PBMC telomerase activity in depression and the response to electroconvulsive therapy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Trial
- Improvement in indices of cellular protection after psychological treatment for social anxiety disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2019Trial
- Improvement of fertility in female mice by treatment with novel telomerase-increasing compounds.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2026Article
- The Crossroads of Neurodegeneration: Exploring the Overlap Between Alzheimer's Disease and Depression.Cureus · 2026Review
- The Mechanisms of Lithium Action: The Old and New Findings.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Maternal stress-induced changes in adolescent and adult offspring: Neurobehavioural improvement and telomere maintenance.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Analysis on in vitro effect of lithium on telomere length in lymphoblastoid cell lines from bipolar disorder patients with different clinical response to long-term lithium treatment.Human genomics · 2022Article
- Profiling the Skeletal Muscle Proteome in Patients on Atypical Antipsychotics and Mood Stabilizers.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Mini-review: The anti-aging effects of lithium in bipolar disorder.Neuroscience letters · 2021Review
- Lithium inhibits oxidative stress-induced neuronal senescence through miR-34a.Molecular biology reports · 2021Article
- Cellular Senescence in Brain Aging.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2021Review
- The anti-aging effects of lithium in lymphoblastoid cell lines from patients with bipolar disorder and controls.Journal of psychiatric research · 2020Article
- Expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase positively correlates with duration of lithium treatment in bipolar disorder.Psychiatry research · 2020Article
- Lithium and the Interplay Between Telomeres and Mitochondria in Bipolar Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Review
- Telomere Biology in Mood Disorders: An Updated, Comprehensive Review of the Literature.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTelomeres are protective DNA-protein complexes at the ends of each chromosome, maintained primarily by the enzyme telomerase. Shortening of the blood leukocyte telomeres is associated with aging, several chronic diseases, and stress, eg, major depression. Hippocampus is pivotal in the regulation of cognition and mood and the main brain region of telomerase activity. Whether there is telomere dysfunction in the hippocampus of depressed subjects is unknown. Lithium, used in the treatment and relapse prevention of mood disorders, was found to protect against leukocyte telomere shortening in humans, but the mechanism has not been elucidated. To answer the questions whether telomeres are shortened and the telomerase activity changed in the hippocampus and whether lithium could reverse the process, we used a genetic model of depression, the Flinders Sensitive Line rat, and treated the animals with lithium.
methodsTelomere length, telomerase reverse transcriptase (Tert) expression, telomerase activity, and putative mediators of telomerase activity were investigated in the hippocampus of these animals.
resultsThe naïve Flinders Sensitive Line had shorter telomere length, downregulated Tert expression, reduced brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, and reduced telomerase activity compared with the Flinders Resistant Line controls. Lithium treatment normalized the Tert expression and telomerase activity in the Flinders Sensitive Line and upregulated β-catenin.
conclusionThis is the first report showing telomere dysregulation in hippocampus of a well-defined depression model and restorative effects of lithium treatment. If replicated in other models of mood disorder, the findings will contribute to understanding both the telomere function and the mechanism of lithium action in hippocampus of depressed patients.
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Registered trials
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