Chronic lithium treatment elicits its antimanic effects via BDNF-TrkB dependent synaptic downscaling

  1. Erinn S Gideons
  2. Pei-Yi Lin
  3. Melissa Mahgoub
  4. Ege T Kavalali
  5. Lisa M Monteggia  Is a corresponding author
  1. UT Southwestern Medical Center, United States

Abstract

Lithium is widely used as a treatment for Bipolar Disorder although the molecular mechanisms that underlie its therapeutic effects are under debate. In this study, we show brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is required for the antimanic-like effects of lithium but not the antidepressant-like effects in mice. We performed whole cell patch clamp recordings of hippocampal neurons to determine the impact of lithium on synaptic transmission that may underlie the behavioral effects. Lithium produced a significant decrease in α-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR)-mediated miniature excitatory postsynaptic current (mEPSC) amplitudes due to postsynaptic homeostatic plasticity that was dependent on BDNF and its receptor tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB). The decrease in AMPAR function was due to reduced surface expression of GluA1 subunits through dynamin-dependent endocytosis. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a requirement for BDNF in the antimanic action of lithium and identify enhanced dynamin-dependent endocytosis of AMPARs as a potential mechanism underlying the therapeutic effects of lithium.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Erinn S Gideons

    Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Pei-Yi Lin

    Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Melissa Mahgoub

    Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Ege T Kavalali

    Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1777-227X
  5. Lisa M Monteggia

    Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
    For correspondence
    lisa.monteggia@utsouthwestern.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-0018-501X

Funding

National Institute of Mental Health (MH070727 MH066198)

  • Ege T Kavalali
  • Lisa M Monteggia

Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (Distinguished Investigator Award)

  • Ege T Kavalali
  • Lisa M Monteggia

International Mental Health Research Organization (Research Award)

  • Lisa M Monteggia

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: Animal protocols were approved by the Institutional Care and Use Committee at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW APN# 2017-101831G).

Copyright

© 2017, Gideons et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Erinn S Gideons
  2. Pei-Yi Lin
  3. Melissa Mahgoub
  4. Ege T Kavalali
  5. Lisa M Monteggia
(2017)
Chronic lithium treatment elicits its antimanic effects via BDNF-TrkB dependent synaptic downscaling
eLife 6:e25480.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25480

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25480