Modifications by lithium of behavioral responses to methamphetamine and tetrabenazine.

Different groups of mice were injected s.c. daily with lithium chloride in three doses(0.52, 1.58 and 4.72meg/kg) or with saline for a period of 3 weeks. Lithium administered acutely or chronically did not affect spontaneous locomotor activities. However, methamphetamine-induced hyper-locomotor activities were inhibited in the lithium groups as compared with those in the saline group, while the hyper-locomotor activities induced by tetrabenazine in the nialamide-pretreated animals were reduced to some extent but not significantly by lithium. Tetrabenazine brought about an initial transient increase followed by a decrease of spontaneous locomotor activities in the lithium groups, whereas it induced only a decrease of the activities in the saline group. In addition, jumping and vertical jumping behaviors, which were not observed in the saline group, occurred 30-60 min after tetrabenazine in the lithium groups. These effects of lithium tended to increase with an increase of the doses administered and with a prolongation of its daily administration. The results demonstrate that lithium modifies behavioral responses to methamphetamine and tetrabenazine.