What is lithium's mechanism of action in psychiatry?

Lithium salts are used as psychiatric medications primarily to treat bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder, functioning as mood stabilizers. Despite its widespread clinical use, the exact biochemical mechanism of action for lithium remains unknown. Pharmacology generally defines a mechanism of action through specific molecular targets like enzymes or receptors, but lithium's specific pathways continue to be studied alongside other psychiatric treatments like antidepressants.

What we know

• Lithium salts are classified as mood stabilizers and are used primarily for bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. [3]
• The exact mechanism of action of lithium is not known. [3]
• In general pharmacology, a mechanism of action usually includes mention of specific molecular targets to which a drug substance binds, such as an enzyme or receptor. [2]

Still open

• The precise biochemical interactions and molecular targets responsible for lithium's mood-stabilizing effects remain undetermined.

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureHow do general pharmacological mechanisms work?
• what followedWhat are the common and serious side effects of lithium?
• whoWho re-established the use of lithium for mental disorders in 1948?
• compared withHow does the monoamine hypothesis explain antidepressant pharmacology?
• whenWhat conditions was lithium used to treat in the nineteenth century?
• an unexpected connectionWhy was a psychiatric mood stabilizer once used for gout and cancer?Lithium was historically prescribed in the nineteenth century for physical ailments like gout, epilepsy, and cancer before its modern re-establishment as a psychiatric treatment for mania.

Sources

• [1]mechanism of action (Wikidata Q3271540) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Mechanism of action · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Lithium (medication) · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Pharmacology of antidepressants · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Butizide · CC BY-SA 4.0