A low dose of lithium reflects the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in mice

People with Alzheimer’s disease have lower levels of lithium in their brains, and giving lithium to mice with symptoms of the condition reflects the cognitive decrease. The results indicate that lithium deficiency can be an engine for Alzheimer’s and that low -dose lithium can help treat them.

Several previous studies have revealed a link between lithium and Alzheimer’s disease. A 2022 studies I found that the described people of Lithium have nearly half of the risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared to those who were not, and a paper published last year showed a relationship between the lithium in drinking water And the low risk of dementia.

The problem with these studies is that other hidden factors may explain associations, he says Bruce Yannerner At Harvard University. For example, it may be that instead of lithium, another mineral in drinking water, such as magnesium, is responsible for reducing the risk of dementia, he says.

Yankanner and his colleagues analyzed levels of 27 minerals in the brains of 285 people after their death, 94 of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 58 of them suffer from a mild twice of cognitive, an introduction to the case. Other participants did not show any signs of cognitive decline at the time of their death.

Lithium levels in the frontal lobe shell-a decisive brain and decision-making-about 36 percent, on average, in people with Alzheimer’s disease more than those who suffer from any cognitive decline. For those with moderate twice of cognitive, lithium levels were 23 percent lower. “We doubt that this is due to a number of environmental factors: food income, genetics, etc.”.

However, there is also another reason. In those who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, blocks of proteins called amyloid plaques contained nearly three times the amount of lithium as plaque -free areas in their brain. “Lithium becomes isolation in these paintings,” says Yannner. “We have two things that happen. There is a weakness in the absorption of lithium [in the brain] Very early and then, with the progress of the disease, the lithium in the brain diminishes by adhering to the amyloid. “

To understand how this affects the perception, the team designed 22 genetic mice to develop the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and reduce lithium intake by 92 percent. After about eight months, the animals have been much worse in multiple memory tests compared to 16 mice on a standard diet. It took about 10 seconds to find a hidden platform in a water maze, for example, even after six days of training. Their brains also contained nearly two and a half times from amyloid plaques.

The genetic analysis of the brain cells of mice that suffer from lithium deficiency showed increased activity in genes related to nervous transmission and Alzheimer’s disease. They also have more brain inflammation and their immune cells were less able to disinfect amyloid plaques, and changes were seen in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

The team then examined the various lithium compounds for its ability to connect the amyloid and found that the orotate lithium – a natural compound that occurs in the body consisting by combining lithium with urotic acid – appears to be the least vulnerable to reaching the paintings. Nine months of treatment with this compound greatly reduced the paintings in mice with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and they also performed memory tests as natural mice.

These results indicate that the orotate lithium can be a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. High doses of different lithium compounds are used to treat some psychological conditions, such as bipolar disorder. “One of the main restrictions of the treatment of lithium in elderly individuals is that, given the high doses used, people often encounters kidneys and thyroid gland.” But these doses are about 1,000 times higher than those used to treat mice in this study, he says. This may be the reason that they did not find any indicator of kidney malfunction or thyroid gland in animals.

However, clinical trials are needed to understand the extent of the OROTATE effect of the low dose on people. Rudolph Tenzi At Massachusetts General Hospital. “The challenge is, how do you determine whether someone needs lithium?” He says. “Because you do not want to increase the loading of the body with lehium. This may lead to severe side effects.”

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