Patients with bipolar disorder usually suffer from recurrent periods of depression and mania. Relapse and recurrence may be prevented by prophylactic treatment with mood stabilisers. Athough they share mood stabilising properties, their pharmacological profiles are very different. Lithium however, is known to be proconvulsant. Despite the pharmacological differences detailed above, we predict that lithium and carbamazepine ultimately have the same effect on synaptic plasticity.
Some initial evidence supports our hypothesis.
We propose to study the effects of chronic lithium carbonate or carbamazepine on synaptic plasticity in vivo . Positive findings will permit the development of novel therapeutic strategies directed at excitatory amino acid function in the treatment of bipolar disorder and may advance knowledge of the pathophysiology of this illness. Electroconvulsive stimulation and synaptic plasticity in the rat. Ketamine prevents ECS-induced synaptic enhancement in rat hippocampus. Repeated electroconvulsive stimulation impairs synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus in vivo but has no effect in CA1 in vitro.