Citation

Schoepfer J, Gernhäuser R, Lichtinger S, Stöver A, Bendel M, Delbridge C, Widmann T, Winkler S, Graw M. Sci. Rep. 2021; 11(1): 6823.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/s41598-021-86377-x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Mood disorder is the leading intrinsic risk factor for suicidal ideation. Questioning any potency of mood-stabilizers, the monovalent cation lithium still holds the throne in medical psychiatric treatment. Furthermore, lithium's anti-aggressive and suicide-preventive capacity in clinical practice is well established. But little is still known about trace lithium distribution and any associated metabolic effects in the human body. We applied a new technique (neutron-induced coincidence method "NIK") utilizing the (6)Li(n,α)(3)H reaction for the position sensitive, 3D spatially resolved detection of lithium traces in post-mortem human brain tissue in suicide versus control. NIK allowed, for the first time in lithium research, to collect a three dimensional high resolution map of the regional trace lithium content in the non lithium-medicated human brain. The results show an anisotropic distribution of lithium, thus indicating a homeostatic regulation under physiological conditions as a remarkable link to essentiality. In contrast to suicide we could empirically prove significantly higher endogenous lithium concentrations in white compared to gray matter as a general trend in non-suicidal individuals and lower lithium concentrations in emotion-modulating regions in suicide.

Language: en