Many people who suffer from bipolar disorder, or manic-depression, seem to respond best to a two-drug combination treatment. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School now believe they understand why.
In the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists show that both drugs stimulate release of a chemical that triggers brain cell activity responsible for helping control the wild mood swings of bipolar disorder. Used together, the drugs may achieve a desired outcome without causing dangerous side effects.
Some three million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder, consisting of major bouts of depression followed by episodes of mania that may lead to disastrous decisions and actions. As many as one in five manic-depressives commits suicide.
Until recently, lithium was the best medication available for the disease, but because of undesirable side effects many people discontinue its use. In the past few years, an anticonvulsant drug prescribed for epilepsy, called valproate, was also found to be effective. Clinicians discovered that best results often occurred by using a combination of both drugs, especially in patients who have a form of the disease that recurs frequently.
"Lithium can be very effective but it can cause gastrointestinal and kidney problems, weight gain and grogginess, making many people want to stop using it. At higher levels the drug can be highly toxic," said UW Medical School professor of pharmacology Lowell Hokin. "Valproate does not produce the same toxicity."
Hokin and his team have studied lithium for years in an effort to understand how it could control depression and mania at the same time.
Their earlier research revealed that lithium increases release of
the neurotransmitter glutamate, in turn activating a receptor, NMDA,
through which calcium must travel to enter a brain cell. Activation of the
NMD
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Contact: Dian Land
dianland@macc.wisc.edu
608-263-9893
University of Wisconsin-Madison
30-Apr-1997