FIGURE 2.

Effects of lithium administration at varying doses on age‐related phenotypes of mice. (a) Schematic overview of the different treatment regimens. Group A: ♀ & ♂, n = 15 per treatment; Group C: ♀ & ♂, n = 9–11 per treatment; Group E: ♀ & ♂, n = 10–15 per treatment. (b) Growth curve (p = 0.0001, n = 10–29) and development of fat content (p < 0.0001, n = 10–15), and (c) glucose tolerance (p = 0.018, n = 9–15) of C57Bl/6J males exposed to LiCl from 3 months of age (see arrow) during their first year of life. (d) Body weight (p = 0.047, n = 9–11) and fat content (p = 0.0507, n = 9–11), (e) glucose tolerance (p = 0.049, n = 7–10) and (f) rotarod performance (p = 0.047, n = 5–9) of C57Bl/6J males exposed to LiCl from 22 months of age at age of 26–28 months (26 mo). (g) Rotarod (p = 0.0101, n = 10–12) and (h) treadmill (p = 0.013, n = 10) performance of C3B6F1 males, and (i) inflammation (p = 0.0003, n = 18–20) and glumerulopathy (p < 0.0001, n = 18–20) score in the kidney of C3B6F1 mice of both sexes exposed to Li₂CO₃ from 14 months of age at age of 24 months (24 mo). Error bars indicate SEM. Statistical analyses were performed using the restricted maximum likelihood method in a mixed‐effects model for (b) and (c), one‐way ANOVA for (d), two‐way ANOVA for (e), (f), (g) and (i), two‐tailed unpaired t test for (h), and Dunnett's or Tukey's multiple comparisons test for (b), (c), (e), (f), (g) and (i). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001