Federoff M, McCarthy MJ, Anand A, et al. - Despite Lithium being an effective therapy for bipolar disorder (BD), full response occurs in only 30%-40% of patients. Lithium is identified to alter circadian rhythms in preclinical models. Researchers aimed at examining whether the therapeutic properties of lithium essentially involve its circadian rhythm effects.

• The relationship between circadian rhythms and therapeutic response to lithium was investigated by performing secondary analyses of a multi-center, prospective, trial of lithium for BD.

• The most circadian disruption was evident in individuals with no prior lithium exposure, while patients stable on lithium monotherapy had the least.

• Findings overall suggest reduced circadian disruption in correlation with exposure to lithium.

• A selective association was evident between lithium response at 12 weeks and the reduction of circadian depressive symptoms.

• Stabilization of circadian rhythms appears to be an essential feature of lithium’s therapeutic effects.