Wojciak Rafal W, Marciniak Paweł, Slocinska Malgorzata
Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 70 Bukowska Str, Poznan, PL-60-812, Poland.
Department of Animal Physiology and Developmental Biology, Institute of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, 6 Uniwersytetu Poznanskiego Str, Poznan, PL-61-614, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 26;15(1):33126. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-18293-3.
Lithium salts have been used in psychiatry for decades as normothymics. The full mechanism of action of these drugs is not yet known. The limited work on lithium suggests that it may affect brain structure and size in humans and animals. This study aimed to determine the effect of lithium citrate and carbonate on the neuroendocrine system of Madagascar cockroaches. The animals were fed 10 weeks with the control and test diets (enriched with lithium citrate and carbonate at 0.1 and 0.01%, respectively). After anaesthesia, the insects were decapitated, and the brain and retrocerebral complex were removed. The study showed significant changes in the morphology of the examined elements of the neuroendocrine system of insects consuming lithium in the diet, mainly consisting of the enlargement of the examined structures, with increased doses of lithium and the preparation administered in the form of citrate having a greater effect. The morphotic changes in the endocrine system of the Madagascar cockroach exposed to lithium, as shown in this study, may suggest that a similar phenomenon occurs in humans and animals exposed to lithium from the environment, food, or drugs. Further research on this topic may shed more light on the phenomenon.
几十年来，锂盐在精神病学中一直被用作心境稳定剂。这些药物的完整作用机制尚不清楚。关于锂的有限研究表明，它可能会影响人类和动物的大脑结构和大小。本研究旨在确定柠檬酸锂和碳酸锂对马达加斯加蟑螂神经内分泌系统的影响。用对照饲料和试验饲料（分别添加0.1%和0.01%的柠檬酸锂和碳酸锂）喂养动物10周。麻醉后，将昆虫断头，取出大脑和后脑复合体。研究表明，食用含锂饲料的昆虫神经内分泌系统的被检查元素形态发生了显著变化，主要表现为被检查结构的增大，随着锂剂量的增加，以柠檬酸盐形式给药的制剂效果更明显。本研究显示，暴露于锂的马达加斯加蟑螂内分泌系统的形态变化可能表明，暴露于环境、食物或药物中的锂的人类和动物也会出现类似现象。对此主题的进一步研究可能会使该现象更加清晰。
