Vanadium and Manic Depressive Psychosis

The evidence for the involvement of vanadium in the aetiology of manic depressive psychosis is reviewed. Raised levels of vanadium have been reported in plasma in mania and depression and raised hair levels reported in mania. Lithium has been reported to reduce the inhibition of Na-K ATPase by vanadate. Several groups of psychotropic drugs (e.g. phenothiazines, monoamine oxidase inhibitors) have been shown to catalyse the reduction of vanadate to the less active vanadyl ion. Therapies based on decreasing vanadate levels in the body (e.g. ascorbic acid, EDTA, methylene blue) have been reported to be effective in both depression and mania.