Alzheimer's Breakthrough: Lithium Reverses Memory Loss in Mice
We may have new hope in the battle against Alzheimer's disease. Researchers have found that lithium levels in the brain are closely linked to the condition, and that lithium supplements can reverse Alzheimer's-like memory loss in mice.
Led by a team from Harvard Medical School, the researchers wanted to investigate previous links that have been made between exposure to metals and dementia risk.
Through hundreds of donated brain tissue and blood samples taken from people with advanced Alzheimer's, early-stage mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and no cognitive issues at all, the team ran tests for dozens of different metals.
Only one metal showed significant differences in abundance between these groups: lithium. Reduced levels of this metal were also noticeable at the earliest stages of memory loss in the tested samples.
"The idea that lithium deficiency could be a cause of Alzheimer's disease is new and suggests a different therapeutic approach," says geneticist and neurologist Bruce Yankner, from Harvard Medical School.
