EFFECT OF LITHIUM ON GRANULOPOIESIS IN CULTURE

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 118  (3) , 288-290
Abstract
Lithium carbonate therapy [for mania] is associated with polymorphonuclear leukocytosis. In vitro studies showed that Li ions stimulate formation of human granulocytic colonies. In order to determine how Li acts, colony-forming cells uncontaminated by monocytes (which elaborate colony-stimulating factor [CSF] in vitro) obtained by a 2-step cell separation procedure. The effects of Li on colony formation were studied in cultures stimulated by humoral CSF, cultures in which monocytes were relied on to synthesize CSF and unstimulated cultures. Li enhanced the action of CSF but did not stimulate colony formation in the absence of CSF. In monocyte-stimulated cultures, colony formation increased with Li concentrations up to 1 mmol/l but this increase paralleled that in CSF-stimulated cultures and therefore, was not due to increased CSF production by monocytes. At higher concentrations of Li, colony formation decreased in the monocyte-stimulated cultures but increased in the CSF-stimulated cultures. A Li concentration of 4 mmol/l gave the greatest enhancing effect on colony formation in CSF-stimulated cultures and a concentration greater than 1 mmol/l inhibited de novo synthesis of CSF by monocytes.