Abstract: AIM: To explore the efficacy and safety of Bupropion combined with Lithium Carbonate in the treatment of bipolar depression. METHODS: An open prospective randomized study was applied in this research which lasted 8 weeks. 78 inpatients meet the diagnosis criteria of DSM-IV were divided into two groups, one group(the research group, n=40) were treated with Bupropion combined with Lithium Carbonate, the other group(the control group, n=38) were treated with Lithium Carbonate only, HAMD-17 was applied to evaluate the efficacy on the baseline and the end of 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th week,the BRMS was applied to evaluate the mania state, while the TESS and laboratory tests were applied to evaluate the side effects. RESULTS: HAMD scores of both group declined significantly at the end of 4th and 8th week respectively (P<0.01), but there were no significant difference between two groups(P>0.05). HAMD scores of research group were lower than those of control group at the end of 1st, 2nd week (P<0.05). There were no significant difference at the end of 8th week of remission rate and response rate between two groups(90% vs 89.5%,62.5% vs 60.5%,P>0.05), while the research group had a greater rate at the end of 2nd week(30% vs 10.5%, 20% vs 2.6%,P<0.05). There were no significant difference in side effects and cases switching to mania between two groups. CONCLUSION: Either Bupropion combined with Lithium Carbonate or Lithium Carbonate only would be effective and safe for bipolar depression, but the former can cut down the initial time to become effective and would not increase the risk of turning to mania.

Key words: Bupropion, Lithium Carbonate sustained release tablets, Bipolar depression