About this Research Topic
Lithium (Li+) has been a key element in the treatment of mood disorders and other psychiatric conditions for decades. It is primarily adopted as the first-line treatment for manic episodes in bipolar disorder (BD) patients, as well as in major depressive disorder patients particularly during manic or hypo-manic episodes or to avoid suicidal behaviors.
Despite numerous studies aimed at developing mood stabilizers with enhanced or comparable efficacy, lithium’s beneficial effects and strong efficacy remain unparalleled by any other compound administered as a mood stabilizer. The long-term effect of lithium is conceivably mediated by specific mechanisms of actions, which, while increasingly evident, are still largely unknown and are currently the subject of intense investigation.
In keeping with the amount of research efforts focused on lithium, emerging aspects reveal a strong modulation of maturation processes within the central and peripheral nervous system. These include the activation of specific biochemical pathways that are relevant to neurogenesis stimulation and which promote the turnover of crucial organelles, including mitochondria, lysosomes, and a number of structures arising from the trans-Golgi network, all vital for neuronal survival. These multiple effects suggest that lithium treatment might, potentially, be beneficial beyond solely in psychiatry, extending its activity to treat neurological disorders and modulation of specific functions throughout the body.
Given the relatively limited attention dedicated to the behavioral effects of lithium administration compared to understanding its molecular mechanisms of action, this Research Topic aims to bridge the gap and integrate knowledge relating to the signaling pathways, physiological effects, and behavioral outputs of this fascinating cation.
To provide a transdisciplinary and comprehensive overview of lithium's diverse modulatory actions, we will collect articles covering its mechanisms from various perspectives, presenting behavioral, psychiatric, neuroanatomical, neurogenetic, neurological, and neural circuitry research outputs for an in-depth exploration.
These include:
• Altered disease course of psychiatric disorders
• Evidence of lithium efficacy for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as a disease-modifying drug.
• Long-term effects of lithium in brain areas relevant to altered psychiatric behavior.
• Morphological and molecular basis of lithium-induced motor plasticity and motor alterations (e.g. evidence supporting lithium-induced effects on PD, and parkinsonism patients)
• Recovery of specific behavioral and neuronal phenotypes (such as BD-like and inflammatory phenotypes in rodents).
• Epigenetic effects induced by long-term lithium administration even at low doses.
• Neurotrophic properties and potential clinical implications for less-toxic and more effective treatment development.
• Improved drugs development with lithium-mimetic pharmaco properties.
Despite numerous studies aimed at developing mood stabilizers with enhanced or comparable efficacy, lithium’s beneficial effects and strong efficacy remain unparalleled by any other compound administered as a mood stabilizer. The long-term effect of lithium is conceivably mediated by specific mechanisms of actions, which, while increasingly evident, are still largely unknown and are currently the subject of intense investigation.
In keeping with the amount of research efforts focused on lithium, emerging aspects reveal a strong modulation of maturation processes within the central and peripheral nervous system. These include the activation of specific biochemical pathways that are relevant to neurogenesis stimulation and which promote the turnover of crucial organelles, including mitochondria, lysosomes, and a number of structures arising from the trans-Golgi network, all vital for neuronal survival. These multiple effects suggest that lithium treatment might, potentially, be beneficial beyond solely in psychiatry, extending its activity to treat neurological disorders and modulation of specific functions throughout the body.
Given the relatively limited attention dedicated to the behavioral effects of lithium administration compared to understanding its molecular mechanisms of action, this Research Topic aims to bridge the gap and integrate knowledge relating to the signaling pathways, physiological effects, and behavioral outputs of this fascinating cation.
To provide a transdisciplinary and comprehensive overview of lithium's diverse modulatory actions, we will collect articles covering its mechanisms from various perspectives, presenting behavioral, psychiatric, neuroanatomical, neurogenetic, neurological, and neural circuitry research outputs for an in-depth exploration.
These include:
• Altered disease course of psychiatric disorders
• Evidence of lithium efficacy for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as a disease-modifying drug.
• Long-term effects of lithium in brain areas relevant to altered psychiatric behavior.
• Morphological and molecular basis of lithium-induced motor plasticity and motor alterations (e.g. evidence supporting lithium-induced effects on PD, and parkinsonism patients)
• Recovery of specific behavioral and neuronal phenotypes (such as BD-like and inflammatory phenotypes in rodents).
• Epigenetic effects induced by long-term lithium administration even at low doses.
• Neurotrophic properties and potential clinical implications for less-toxic and more effective treatment development.
• Improved drugs development with lithium-mimetic pharmaco properties.
Keywords: Lithium, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, disease-modifying effect, neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, neurodegeneration, neurotrophic, motor plasticity, drug development
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
