Effects of Lithium on Inflammation

Lithium is an effective medication for the treatment of bipolar affective disorder.Accumulating evidence suggests that inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder and that lithium has anti-inflammatory effects that may contribute to its therapeutic efficacy.This article summarizes the studies which examined the effects of lithium on pro-and anti-inflammatory mediators.Some of the summarized data suggest that lithium exerts antiinflammatory effects (e.g., suppression of cyclooxygenase-2 expression, inhibition of interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α production, and enhancement of IL-2 and IL-10 synthesis).Nevertheless, there is a large body of data which indicates that under certain experimental conditions lithium also exhibits pro-inflammatory properties (e.g., induction of IL-4, IL-6 and other pro-inflammatory cytokines synthesis).The reviewed studies utilized various experimental model systems, and it is thus difficult to draw an unequivocal conclusion regarding the effect of lithium on specific inflammatory mediators.