Lithium suppresses elevated behavioural activity and brain catecholamines in developing hyperthyroid rats

Neonatal hyperthyroidism in rats induced by daily administration of L-triiodothyronine for 30 days since birth resulted in a significant rise in mobility and the metabolism of brain norepinephrine and dopamine. Whereas administration of lithium carbonate (60 mg/kg ip) to normal rats for 6 days produced no effect on spontaneous locomotor activity and increased the synthesis and possibly release of this monoamine in several brain regions, this antimanic drug antagonized the L-triiodothyronine-stimulated increases in mobility as well as norepinephrine and dopamine metabolism of hypothalamus, midbrain, striatum, and cerebral cortex. Furthermore, lithium treatment restored the activity of catechol-O-methyl transferase (EC 2.1.1.6) in young hyperthyroid rats to virtually normal limits. Our data suggest that antiphasic or damping effects of lithium upon mood swings is controlled, at least in part, by catecholaminergic systems in the brain. The interrelationship between brain catecholamines and thyroid hormones seems to be important to our understanding of the action of lithium in affective illness.