The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation has donated $1 million to University of California-Irvine for a specific salivary lithium study in psychiatry.
UCI’s Interdisciplinary Institute for Salivary Bioscience Research over the next five years will manage the study of how lithium affects patients, while being monitored via salivary measurements.
Bipolar disorder affects the mood of patients in a manner that can be disruptive to the quality of everyday life with exaggerated highs and depressive lows. To return patients to a proper mental homeostasis, lithium is sometimes prescribed to “level out” a patient’s mood.
5-Year Plan
The study is five years and three phases away from possible market entry; expansion from 40 patients to 300 patients should provide more credible results.
The psychiatric study enrolled bipolar and major depressive patients who are receiving treatment with lithium. Lithium has a narrow range of therapeutic effect for its dose—meaning it is equally as easy to both underestimate the dosage below therapeutic levels and to cause dangerously high levels of toxicity.
Patients receiving lithium must be closely monitored and dosage adjusted by a psychiatrist as needed. These adjustments are rendered from blood draws—a facet of treatment monitoring that many patients abhor.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Prentiss Foundation, we can continue our work,” said Douglas Granger, co-principal investigator.
Toxic Side Effects
“Lithium must be very closely monitored. If dosage levels are too low, there may not be any benefit; and if they’re too high, there can be toxic side effects.”
Previous attempts to study lithium levels via saliva were unsuccessful due to inconsistent collection methods and poor storage procedures.
“Preliminary findings showed a strong positive correlation between serum and salivary lithium measurements,” a UCI press release stated.
