Journal of International Psychiatry

Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effect of quetiapine in combination with lithium carbonate on cognitive function and serum biochemical indices of manics with bipolar affective disorder and to analyze the possible mechanism of action. Methods: A total of 96 cases of manics with bipolar affective disorder admitted to hospital from July 2015 to June 2016 were selected as the research objects, and randomly divided into observation group and control group according to the medical record number, with 48 cases in each group. Patients in control group were given lithium carbonate for treatment, and those in observation group were given quetiapine in combination with lithium carbonate for treatment. After 4 weeks of treatment, The cognitive function, serum biochemical indices and adverse reactions of the two groups were compared. Results: The finished number of categories in observation group was significantly higher than that in control group, the numbers of error responses, sustained responses and persistent errors were significantly lower than those in control group (P<0.05, P<0.01); the content of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was significantly higher than that in control group, and the contents of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were significantly lower than those in control group (P<0.05); the difference in adverse reactions between the two groups was not statistically significant（12.50% vs 20.83%）(P<0.05). Conclusion: Quetiapine in combination with lithium carbonate can help promote cognitive function recovery in manics with bipolar affective disorder, and the treatment is safe and reliable, which may be related to the improvement of the level of serum neurotrophic factors and the inhibition of inflammatory reaction.

Keywords: bipolar disorder; quetiapine; lithium carbonate; cognitive function; neurotrophic factors; inflammatory factors