« pHD In The Olympics! | Main | Democratic Convention - Part 1 »
July 27, 2004
Lithium
The Journal 'Nature' has an interesting article on Lithium and Alzhiemers. The study they report on indicates that Lithium slows the progression of Alzheimers.
One of the ways it does this, is of interest to those in the HD community: It reduced the amyloids ('tangles') in the brain. Amyloids are key feature of Huntington's Disease. It's possible this 'simple salt' could delay the onset of HD.
Researchers now think that the simple salt could slow the progress of degenerative brain disorders, such as Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease.
Paula Nunes and colleagues from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, studied 74 elderly people with bipolar disorder. Four percent of those taking lithium had Alzheimer's disease, compared with 21% of patients who were not taking the drug.
The researchers conclude that lithium therapy may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. ...
The team think that the drug works by blocking the action of an enzyme called GSK-3. In a brain with Alzheimer's, GSK-3 seems to prompt the addition of phosphate molecules to the tau protein, causing tangles to form. Lithium may prevent this from happening.
Posted by Dave at July 27, 2004 06:06 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.huntingtons.info/MT/mt-tb.cgi/516
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)