Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:629-631
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Reduced dark-adaptation: an indication of lithium's neuronal action in humans
HM Emrich, J Zihl, C Raptis and A Wendl
Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Federal Republic of Germany.
Although lithium plays a major role in therapy and prophylaxis of affective
psychoses, no direct indication of its neuronal action in humans exists. A
lithium-induced strong reduction of foveal dark- adaptation was found in
healthy volunteers, and a lithium-induced reduction was also measured in
patients with affective psychoses. Dark- adaptation measurements apparently
offer the opportunity for in vivo monitoring of lithium's CNS effects in
humans and may predict lithium's clinical efficacy.
