ArticleClinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology2020
Lithium Stabilizes the Mood of Bipolar Patients by Depolarizing the Neuronal Membrane Via Quantum Tunneling through the Sodium Channels.
Article in Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Enhanced axonal mitochondrial motility and neural activity-induced energy deficits destabilize synaptic transmission in models of bipolar disorder.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Breaking Through Barriers: The Transformative Potential of Nanomedicine in Overcoming Drug Delivery Challenges for Psychiatric Disorders.CNS & neurological disorders drug targets · 2026Review
- Ketogenic diets in clinical psychology: examining the evidence and implications for practice.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Synapto-protective effect of lithium on HIV-1 Tat-induced synapse loss in rat hippocampal cultures.Animal cells and systems · 2022Article
- Quantum Tunneling-Induced Membrane Depolarization Can Explain the Cellular Effects Mediated by Lithium: Mathematical Modeling and Hypothesis.Membranes · 2021Article
- Position sensitive measurement of trace lithium in the brain with NIK (neutron-induced coincidence method) in suicide.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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Abstract
objectiveLithium is used as first line in treating bipolar patients to stabilize their mood. However, the exact mechanism of lithium is not yet established. One of the proposed mechanisms is that lithium depolarizes the hyperpolarized neuronal membrane of bipolar patients bringing it back to the normal potential. On the other hand, the only way that lithium causes significant therapeutic depolarization is to have a membrane conductance that must be at least an order of magnitude higher than that for sodium but this is not achieved since both; lithium and sodium have the same conductance because the membrane channels are selective for them approximately by the same degree. So, this study aimed to explain how lithium could achieve higher conductance than sodium.
methodsThe idea of quantum tunneling through closed channels was used in a way to calculate the tunneling probability and the quantum conductance for lithium ions.
resultsIt was found that lithium could achieve higher conductance than sodium because it has a smaller mass than sodium making lithium to have higher probability of tunneling and consequently higher conductance through channels and membrane.
conclusionLithium tunneling model provides a reasonable explanation for the therapeutic depolarization effect of lithium. This model is experimentally testable to prove the tunneling effect of ions through the closed channels and to show the variations of quantum conductance between ions according to their mass.
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