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Updated: Dec 22, 2025

Developing a Rat Model for Bipolar Disorder
Published on: May 2, 2025
Differences in telomere length between patients with bipolar disorder and controls are influenced by lithium
Claudia Pisanu1, Donatella Congiu1, Mirko Manchia2,3,4
1Department of Biomedical Science, Section of Neuroscience & Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, Cagliari, 09042, Italy.
Abstract:
Aim: To assess the role of lithium treatment in the relationship between bipolar disorder (BD) and leukocyte telomere length (LTL). Materials & methods: We compared LTL between 131 patients with BD, with or without a history of lithium treatment, and 336 controls. We tested the association between genetically determined LTL and BD in two large genome-wide association datasets. Results: Patients with BD with a history lithium treatment showed longer LTL compared with never-treated patients (p = 0.015), and similar LTL compared with controls. Patients never treated with lithium showed shorter LTL compared with controls (p = 0.029). Mendelian randomization analysis showed no association between BD and genetically determined LTL. Conclusion: Our data support previous findings showing that long-term lithium treatment might protect against telomere shortening.
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