Effects of lithium on neutrophil metabolism in vitro and on neutrophil function during therapy.

Abstract

Lithium carbonate (LC), an effective therapeutic agent for manic depressive psychosis, induces neutrophilia associated with an increased blood neutrophil pool and survival in vivo (Rothstein et al., 1978) and with enhanced growth of granulocyte committed stem cells in vitro (Rossof and Fehir, 1979). Despite these well documented effects on the granulocyte population, few studies have investigated the interactions of lithium and granulocyte function. Reports of lithium effects on the metabolic function of a variety of relatively homogeneous cell populations have shown that lithium increases the adhesion of nervous system cells and interferes with the effects of colcemid in vitro (Reiser et al., 1975), increases the intensity of platelet aggregation and prolongs the duration of disaggregation in vitro (Imandt et al., 1977), inhibits mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation and suppressor T-cell activity in vitro (Gelfand et al., 1979) and enhances neutrophil skin window migration in vivo (Rothstein et al., 1978).KeywordsChronic Granulomatous DiseaseLithium TherapyPhagocytic IndexLysosomal Enzyme ReleaseDextran SedimentationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.