Some antidepressant drugs, especially tricyclic ones - (TCA), have cardiovascular side effects. To compare the effects of antidepressant drugs, the electrocardiogram (ECG), vectorcardiogram (VCG), and body surface maps (BSM) were recorded in psychiatric patients without cardiovascular diseases treated by a) TCA amitriptyline or dosulepin (daily dose 50-200 mg, 22 patients), b) lithium (serum level 0.66±0.08 meq/1, 21 patients), c) selective serotonine reuptake inhibitor citalopram (daily doses 20-60 mg, 30 patients), and in 23 control patients. In the TCA-treated patients, the heart rate was increased, QT and RR intervals shortened (p<0.01, antimuscarinic effect). This was not observed in lithium- and citalopram-treated patients. All antidepressants decreased the absolute maximum values of depolarization isointegral maps, lithium and TCA reduced the initial and citalopram the later phase of depolarization. Citalopram slightly diminished the amplitude of the R wave. The results confirm the antimuscarinic effects of TCA in therapeutic doses and specify the intraventricular effects of antidepressants.
The article ponders over the environmental paradoxes of the Bolivian political project. The government of Morales aspires to establish a system based on social justice, environmentally conscious politics and the respect for the indigenous populations of the country. The new Political Constitution was adopted that guarantees the political, cultural and territorial rights of the indigenous groups and delineates a well-developed framework of the environmental protection. As one of the first states of the world Bolivia admitted the legal status of nature and adopted „Law of Mother Earth“. However, to these legislative measures contrasts sharply the economic strategy of the country, based almost exclusively on mining, industrialization and commercialization of the natural resources. The government of Morales intensified the mining of the fossil fuels and prepares the way for a gigantic project of mining and processing of lithium on the Bolivian salt flats. Socio-ecological consequences of these activities might be catastrophic. We think that the ambivalent environmental attitude of the government of Morales is caused, primarily, by its effort to match up two inconsistent principles: on the one hand the anthropocentric concept of economic growth, modernity and progress and on the other the indigenous concept of „good life“ that became the official moral-ethical principle of the Bolivian state.
The aims of our study were to investigate into the effect of lithium on smooth muscle contraction and phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC20) by MLCK and to find out the clue of its mechanism. Isolated rabbit duodenum smooth muscle strips were used to study the effects of lithium on their contractile activity under the condition of Krebs’ solution by means of HW-400S constant temperature smooth muscle trough. Myosin and MLCK were purified from the chicken gizzard smooth muscle. Myosin phosphorylation was determined by Glycerol-PAGE, myosin Mg2+-ATPase activity was measured by Pi liberation method. Lithium (10-40 mM) inhibited the contraction in duodenum in a dose-related and time-dependent manner. Lithium could also inhibit the extent of myosin phosphorylation in a dose-related and time-dependent manner, whereas it inhibited Mg2+-ATPase activity in a dose-rel ated manner. Lithium inhibited smooth muscle contraction by inhibition of myosin phosphorylation and Mg2+-ATPase activity., Z. Y. Tang, Z. N. Liu, L. Fu, D. P. Chen, Q. D. Ai, Y. Lin., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Tricyclic antidepressant drugs dosulepine (TCA), serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and prophylactic agent with antidepressant effect lithium carbonicum (Li) have different cardiovascular side-effects. We compared them in the prophylactic therapy of periodic affective disorder in remission with TCA, SSRI and Li. Our previous papers confirmed the most prominent effects of heart electric field parameters in TCA patients (Slavíček et al. 1998). In the present work we studied for the first time the dose-dependent changes of ECG, body surface potential maps (BSPM - parameter DIAM 30, 40) in 43 TCA dosulepine, 40 SSRI citalopram and 30 Li outpatients (Hamilton scale: HAMD£10; age 40±5 years; treated for depressive disorders or bipolar disorders). The daily doses of dosulepine were 50-250 mg, citalopram 20-80 mg, Li plasma levels 0.66±0.08 meq/l. The electrocardiogram (ECG), vectorcardiogram (VCG), and BSPM were measured and calculated by the Cardiag 112.1 diagnostic system. The results have shown a relation between the dose of dosulepine and extremum (maximum and minimum) of depolarization isoarea map in dosulepine, but not in citalopram patients. The repolarization BSPM changes were most pronounced in SSRI patients. Lithium in long-term prophylaxy (1-22 years) caused only minimal ECG BSPM changes. The present results correspond with our previous observations., I. Paclt, J. Slavíček, A. Dohnalová, E. Kitzlerová, K. Pišvejcová., and Obsahuje bibliografii
For more than sixty years lith ium carbonate has been used in medicine. However, during its administration different side effects including oxidative stress can occur. Selenium belongs to essential elements possessing antioxidant properties. This study aimed at evaluating if selenium co uld be used as a protective adjuvant in lithium therapy. The experiment was performed on four groups of Wistar rats: I (control), II (Li), III (Se), IV (Li + Se) treated with saline, lithium carbonate (2.7 mg Li/kg b.w.), sodium selenite (0.5 mg Se/kg b.w.) and lithium carbonate (2.7 mg Li/kg b.w.) + sodium selenite (0.5 mg Se/kg b.w.), respectively. All substances were administered as water solutions by stomach tube for 3 or 6 weeks. Catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GP x) as well as malonyldialdehyde (MDA) were determined in brain homogenates. Lithium slightly enhanced MDA and depressed CAT and SOD after 6 weeks as well as GPx after 3 weeks. Selenium co -administration show ed tendency to restore the disturbed parameters. Selenium alone and given with lithium significantly increased GPx vs. Li- treated group after 3 weeks. Having regarded the outcomes of this study, the research on application of selenium during lithium treatment seems to be worth continuation., M. Kiełczykowska, J. Kocot, A. Lewandowska, R. Żelazowska, I. Musik., and Obsahuje bibliografii