PubReading [95] - A safe lithium mimetic for bipolar disorder - N. Singh, G. Churchill et al.

<p><strong>Lithium</strong> is the most effective <strong>mood stabilizer</strong> for the treatment of bipolar disorder, but it is toxic at only twice the therapeutic dosage and has many undesirable side effects. It is likely that a small molecule could be found with lithium-like efficacy but without toxicity through target-based drug discovery; however, therapeutic target of lithium remains equivocal. Inositol monophosphatase is a possible target but no bioavailable inhibitors exist. Here we report that the antioxidant ebselen inhibits inositol monophosphatase and induces lithium-like effects on mouse <strong>behaviour,</strong> which are reversed with inositol, consistent with a mechanism involving inhibition of inositol recycling. Ebselen is part of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Collection, a chemical library of bioavailable drugs considered clinically safe but without proven use. Therefore, ebselen represents a lithium mimetic with the potential both to validate inositol monophosphatase inhibition as a treatment for <strong>bipolar disorder</strong> and to serve as a treatment itself. - DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2320 - 2013</p>