An irreversible effect of lithium administration to patients.
1 Lithium administration to patients leads to a pronounced inhibition (about 90%) of the choline transport system in erythrocytes. The transport system does not recover when ghosts are prepared from the erythrocytes, thereby removing intracellular as well as extracellular lithium. 2 When a patient is taken off lithium, the choline transport in erythrocytes recovers only very slowly over a period of three months, i.e. at about the same rate at which the erythrocytes that had been exposed to lithium are replaced by new cells. 3 It is concluded that therapeutic concentrations of lithium produce an irreversible inhibition of the choline transport system in human erythrocytes.
D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism*; D003864:Depression, Chemical; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008094:Lithium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors
D008094:Lithium; D002794:Choline