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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1467267
This article is part of the Research Topic Case Reports in Psychopharmacology, volume III View all 3 articles
Acute myasthenia caused by lithium: a case report
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Graduate School, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2 Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 3 Department of Gastroenterology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
We report the case of an 18-year-old female patient with bipolar disorder who developed recurrent acute myasthenia after taking lithium. The myasthenia resolved upon discontinuation of lithium，and this occurred twice. The results of the cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multiple sleep latency test, polysomnography, ambulatory electroencephalogram (EEG), and other tests were all negative. In summary, the patient's acute myasthenia was attributed to lithium use. Unlike previously reported cases of lithium-induced chronic and mild myasthenia symptoms, this case involved acute and widespread myasthenia with falls as the primary manifestation. The mechanism may be related to the effect of lithium on acetylcholine receptor (AChR) metabolism, neurotransmitter release, and neuromuscular junction (NMJ) stability.
Keywords: Lithium, Myasthenia, side effect, Synaptic Function, Neuromuscular Junction
Received: 22 Nov 2024; Accepted: 27 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yao, Ye, Jin, Yan, Shen, Dai and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ning Dai, Department of Gastroenterology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
Wei Chen, Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Graduate School, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310016, Jiangsu Province, China
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