Lurisadone is Effective in Mixed Unipolar Depression
Lurasidone (Latuda) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of bipolar depression. A new study indicates that lurasidone is also effective in those with unipolar depression complicated by a few manic features, i.e. mixed depression, which is often more severe and less responsive to traditional antidepressants than traditional unipolar depression.
At a 2015 scientific meeting, Andrew Nierenberg and colleagues presented the results of a six-week study comparing 20–60 mg of lurasidone to placebo in about 200 depressed patients who had some manic symptoms. Lurasidone significantly improved unipolar depressive symptoms in addition to the mixed manic symptoms.
At baseline, the patients’ manic symptoms included: flight of ideas/racing thoughts in 66.8% of the participants, pressured speech in 61.1%, decreased need for sleep in 40.8%, increased energy or activity in 28.0%, elevated or expansive mood in 18.0%, increased or excessive involvement in pleasurable activities in 15.6%, and inflated self-esteem or grandiosity in 6.6%.
Another promising open study of minocycline in bipolar depression
Joanna Soczynska in Roger McIntyre’s lab at the University of Toronto presented a poster at the 2014 meeting of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP) on the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective antibiotic minocycline.
Twenty-seven patients with a major depression received minocycline in addition to the medications they were already being prescribed. Dosage was 100mg twice a day. Treatment with adjunctive minocycline was associated with significant improvement on several scales that measure depression severity.
Editor’s Note: What was particularly interesting was that a subset of patients achieved complete remission, raising the question whether these patients might have markers of inflammation that would predict this excellent response. The authors concluded that the “results provide a rationale for testing minocycline’s efficacy in a larger randomized, placebo-controlled trial.”
Exactly this type of study was proposed a year ago by researcher Andy Nierenberg and given the best marks by a National Institute of Mental Health review committee but was turned down for funding because the National Institute of Mental Health has implemented a new initiative, Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), that lays out new criteria for research, limiting funding to those studies that focus on a molecular target that spans several diagnoses.)
Lithium Reverses Effects of Oxidative Stress on Mitochondrial Function
mitochondrion
Oxidative stress has been implicated in a wide range of illnesses, but what is it exactly? Our bodies use the oxygen we breathe to burn the fuel we get from food, and while this is a natural process, it produces byproducts known as free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can strip electrons from other molecules in a process called oxidation. Antioxidants (such as vitamin C) act as a source of electrons, helping keep other cells stable and healthy. Oxidative stress refers to the stress on our bodies from the normal effects of free radicals combined with environmental stressors like tobacco smoke or radiation.
In work presented at the 2013 meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, Anna Andreason showed that over-activity of neurons increases oxidative stress through the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These are a type of free radicals that can damage cells in two ways: nitrosylation of proteins (adding nitric oxide to a thiol molecule), and oxidation, which results in more lasting effects on synaptic structures. The chemical compound rotenone damages mitochondria by producing ROS, and Andreason found that lithium was able to reverse this production and reverse the adverse effects of oxidative stress.
Lithium Has an Amazing Array of Positive Effects
Editor’s Note: The ability of lithium to protect mitochondria (the energy storehouse of a cell) adds to an increasingly long list of lithium’s neurotropic and neuroprotective benefits. Lithium increases cell survival factors BDNF and Bcl-2, increases markers of neuronal integrity such as N-Acetylaspartic acid (NAA), increases the volume of the hippocampus and cortex, and now helps protect mitochondria from oxidative stress. Lithium also increases the length of telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosome and protect them from damage during the DNA replication that occurs each time a cell divides. Short telomeres are associated with many kinds of medical and psychiatric diseases, as well as shorter life spans. No wonder that in addition to preventing mania and depression it has other clinical benefits, such as preventing memory deterioration, medical mortality, and suicide.
Lithium Linked to Longer Lifespan in Humans (and Worms)
An article published in the European Journal of Nutrition last year suggests that higher trace levels of lithium found naturally in drinking water in some environments are linked to longer lifespans. The authors conclude that lithium has some anti-aging properties.
We’ve written before about the cognitive benefits of small doses of lithium.
