Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37338568›Full record

Trial reportPsychopharmacology2023

Effect of lithium administration on brain activity under an emotion regulation paradigm in healthy participants: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Pilar Artiach Hortelano, Marieke A G Martens, Abigail Pringle, Catherine J Harmer

Open access · hybridAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Emotion anticipation and processing in depression: Behavioral, neural, and physiological reactivity.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Pilar Artiach Hortelano *Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Marieke A G Martens *Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Marieke.martens@psych.ox.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0108-1327
Abigail PringleDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Catherine J HarmerDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust · GBUniversity of Oxford · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council G0801432
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

rationaleEmotion regulation (ER) difficulties have been previously described in bipolar disorder (BD). Whilst lithium has been shown to be effective in the treatment of BD, the mechanisms underlying lithium's effect on mood stabilisation remain unclear.

objectivesUnravelling lithium's effect on psychological processes impaired in BD, such as ER, could address this translational gap and inform the development of new treatments.

methodsThis study investigated the neural effects of lithium (800mg) on ER in 33 healthy volunteers in a double-blind between-groups design, randomised to lithium (n=17) or placebo (n=16) for 11 days. At treatment completion, participants underwent 3-Tesla fMRI scan whilst performing an ER task.

resultsReappraisal reduced negative affect across groups and led to the expected increase in frontal brain activity. Participants receiving lithium showed (1) decreased activation in prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices and connectivity between the fronto-limbic network (Z>2.3, p<0.05 corrected); and (2) increased activity in the right superior temporal gyrus (Z>3.1, p<0.05 corrected) and connectivity between the right medial temporal gyrus (MTG) and left middle frontal gyrus (Z>2.3, p<0.05 corrected) during reappraisal. Further effects of lithium were found in response to negative picture presentation, whereby an anticorrelation was found between the left amygdala and the frontal cortex, and greater connectivity between the right MTG and the bilateral medial prefrontal cortex extending into the paracingulate gyrus, compared to placebo (Z>2.3, p < 0.05 corrected).

conclusionsThese results show a potential effect of lithium on ER through its effects on activity and connectivity, and further elaborate the neural underpinnings of cognitive reappraisal. Future work should investigate longer term effects of lithium on ER in BD, ultimately benefitting the development of novel and more effective treatments.

Indexed as

Emotional RegulationLithiumBrainEmotionsHealthy VolunteersHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingPrefrontal CortexLithiumEmotional processingEmotional regulationLithiumTask fMRI

Identifiers

PMID37338568
PMCPMC10349753
OpenAlexW4381307990

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.