The Pharmacokinetics of Lithium

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the current knowledge about the pharmacokinetics of lithium in humans. It covers the various marketed pharmaceutical forms and salts of lithium, as well as the variability factors that influence its pharmacokinetics, such as age, body weight, pathophysiological modifications and drug-drug interactions. Pharmacokinetics parameters and their variability are important because lithium has a narrow therapeutic index. Therapeutic drug monitoring to determine lithium blood concentrations remains the key component of clinical surveillance. This chapter focuses special attention on the brain pharmacokinetics of lithium, which are not yet fully understood. A better comprehension of the brain disposition of lithium and associated variability factors may assist our future understanding of the pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics relationships of lithium.