Hope rises for future treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: What scientists have discovered to help with brain aging

Lithium’s properties have been known to the scientific community for decades, but new research suggests it may have a previously unknown medical application.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School, whose findings were published in Nature, discovered that “lithium occurs naturally in the brain, shields it from neurodegeneration, and maintains the normal function of all major brain cell types.” The team was the first to demonstrate the absence of lithium, based on a series of experiments involving mice and samples of human brain tissue and blood from individuals at various stages of cognitive health.

Lithium as a Treatment for Neurological Diseases

For decades, lithium has been used to treat mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. This new study expands its potential applications to Alzheimer’s disease, which remains incurable and whose causes are still unknown.

However, the advances made by the Harvard team may help the medical community better understand what triggers the disease’s onset. A blog post on Harvard Medical School’s website explained that the researchers “found that lithium loss in the human brain is one of the earliest changes leading to Alzheimer’s.” In studies involving mice, lithium depletion accelerated the progression of pathology and led to memory issues.

One of the most critical aspects of the study focused on how lithium is produced in the brain and why its levels decrease in some individuals. “The team further found that reduced lithium levels stemmed from binding to amyloid plaques and impaired uptake in the brain,” the blog noted. In mice, researchers introduced “a novel lithium compound that avoids capture by amyloid plaques,” which was able to restore some memory function.

Further research will be needed to determine whether a similar mechanism could benefit patients with neurological diseases that may, at least in part, be linked to a deficiency of lithium in the brain.

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