Impact of lithium alone or in combination with haloperidol on oxidative stress parameters and cell viability in...

It has been reported that lithium may inhibit lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation. Lithium salts also appear to stimulate cell proliferation, increase neurogenesis, and delay cell death. Oxidative stress and neurodegeneration may play an important role in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder and the disease course thereof. The aim of this research is to estimate the influence of lithium (alone and in combination with haloperidol) on the parameters of oxidative stress and viability of SH-SY5Y cell lines in neutral and pro-oxidative conditions.

The evaluated oxidative stress parameter was lipid peroxidation. The viability of the cell lines was measured utilising the MTT test.

In neutral conditions, higher levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were observed in those samples which contained both haloperidol and lithium than in other samples. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Cell viability was significantly higher in therapeutic lithium samples than in the controls; samples of haloperidol alone as well as those of haloperidol with lithium did not differ from controls.

The results of our study may indicate that lithium possess neuroprotective properties that may be partly due to antioxidative effects. The combination of lithium and haloperidol may generate increased oxidative stress.