Inositol treatment in psychiatry.

Inositol, a naturally occurring isomer of glucose, is a key intermediate of the phosphatidyl-inositol (PI) cycle, a second-messenger system used by several noradrenergic, serotonergic and cholinergic receptors. The suggestion that lithium might treat mania via its reduction of inositol levels led to experiments showing that pharmacological doses of peripheral inositol reverse behavioral effects of lithium in animals and side effects of lithium in man. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of inositol are low in depression. An open-label, add-on trial of inositol in depression suggested a beneficial effect. In a subsequent 1-month, parallel-groups, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 28 patients, inositol was effective as sole therapy for depression (p = .043). Inositol was also effective for panic disorder in a double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled crossover study of 21 patients, with 4 weeks in each phase (p = .02); the effect was comparable to that of imipramine in recent studies.