Since no cure has been found for Alzheimer’s disease and the medications that do exist to help treat the problems only work for some people, doctors have been researching new drugs to help people with Alzheimer’s disease. A variety of drugs are being tested and researched, but one drug that has been showing some promise as an Alzheimer’s drug is the drug Lithium. In the past, Lithium has been used successfully to treat a variety of different psychological problems, such as forms of depression and some dementia’s. Researchers have recently been doing tests to see if Lithium can be used as an Alzheimer’s drug.
Lithium is a drug that has been found to inhibit a certain enzyme called GSK-3 beta, which, when it is active, can actually cause problems in the body. Drugs that inhibit this enzyme can actually help improve the function of the neurons. When there is too much of the enzyme present in the body, it can actually destroy the neurons that are needed for good brain activity. Researchers have been researching this drug to see how it will affect Alzheimer’s patients and if it could significantly help in memory retrieval and prevent further brain deterioration.
One unexpected discovery that was made when testing Lithium to be an Alzheimer’s drug is that high doses can cause problems. One would think that the higher the dose, the better this drug would be, but the studies show that too much of Lithium can cause problems as well. When there is too much of the drug used, it can actually make neurological functions worse that before. Too much of the drug can actually kill the neurons in the body, which can lead to more mental problems.
It is exciting to see the new breakthroughs that researchers are making. As they research Lithium, even seemingly bad discoveries can lead to helping them find helpful uses for this drug. Since they have found out that too much of this drug can be harmful, they can now go on to find what doses of this drug could actually be helpful as an Alzheimer’s drug. This is just the beginning of medical research leading to more treatments and maybe even a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.