Fig. 5

Concentration of lithium after long-term exposure. A Plasma, B CSF and C CSF/plasma ratios (%). Rats exposed to long-term lithium treatment via placental transfer (estimated at E18) or via breast milk (estimated in plasma and CSF at P2–P16) from treated dams. P0 is not included as in long-term treated pups the dam’s treatment started from the day of birth (P0). The lithium concentrations in plasma and CSF these long-term treated animals were less than in the acute experiments and declined with age (cf Figs. 4, 5). Each dot in A and B represents a sample from individual animals. CSF/plasma ratios (%) are calculated for the samples from the same animal. Blue points are samples measured using ICP-MS and black points are samples measured using LA-ICP-MS. Error bars are ± SD when n > 2. For untreated control values, see Additional file 1: Table S3. Note ages in brackets refer to age of fetuses/pups when dams were sampled at the same time. * p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001