Abstract
Lithium-based medications are used successfully to treat many mental disorders, including bipolar disorder and Alzheimer’s disease. However, the therapeutic mechanisms are not well characterized due to limitations in detecting lithium in organs and cells. This limits the ability to improve lithium-based treatments. To address this need, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is developed for the rapid and in situ detection of lithium in biological tissues. Pronounced lithium emissions are observed at 670.7nm from the rat thyroid, salivary, and mammary glands when lithium is administered orally. Calcium, carbon, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and iodine emissions are also observed. The lithium emission intensity is positively correlated with tissue lithium concentration, which is ~1ppm. The limit of detection for lithium is determined to be ~0.1ppm. Thyroid lithium intensity increases while iodine intensity decreases. The reduced intrathyroidal iodine following treatment likely impairs hormone production. Further, the presence of lithium in the salivary and mammary glands makes these glands the likely conduits for lithium to enter the saliva and breast milk, respectively. LIBS is well suited for characterizing the distribution of lithium, and other elements, across the body. This optical method can potentially be adapted for use in vivo and in humans.
Highlights
Bipolar disorder and Alzheimer’s disease are two widely prevalent mental disorders that significantly affect the patient’s quality of life
We develop laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to detect lithium, along with other elements, in the thyroid, salivary, and mammary glands of rats after treating them with lithium medication
The emission intensity increased with tissue lithium concentration
Summary
Bipolar disorder and Alzheimer’s disease are two widely prevalent mental disorders that significantly affect the patient’s quality of life. Equipment cost and size are preferably low to encourage wide use These specifications are not well met by conventional elemental analysis methods such as x-ray fluorescence (XRF) or inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). We develop LIBS to detect lithium, along with other elements, in the thyroid, salivary, and mammary glands of rats after treating them with lithium medication. This study analyzes the glands at the organ level, but long-term, LIBS can potentially perform cellular level lithium analysis across a range of tissues. This will make LIBS a very important method for lithium biodistribution studies. The first sample type is thyroid, salivary, and mammary glands from subjects treated with lithium orally, modeling medical treatment. The results and discussion section presents LIBS spectra measured from the samples and how the lithium emission line, along with that of other elements, depend on lithium level
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