Low dose of lithium reverses Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice
People with Alzheimer’s disease have lower levels of lithium in their brains than those without cognitive impairment, and a deficiency of the metal appears to accelerate the accumulation of amyloid plaques and memory loss – but it could possibly be reversed with a small dose of lithium
By Grace Wade
6 August 2025
An illustration of nerve cells affected by Alzheimer’s disease
Science Photo Library / Alamy Stock Photo
People with Alzheimer’s disease have lower levels of lithium in their brains, and giving lithium to mice with symptoms of the condition reverses cognitive decline. Together, the findings suggest that lithium deficiency could be a driver of Alzheimer’s disease and that low-dose lithium medications could help treat it.
Numerous earlier studies have uncovered a link between lithium and Alzheimer’s disease. A 2022 study found that people prescribed lithium had almost half the risk of developing Alzheimer’s over the study’s follow-up period compared with those who hadn’t been, and a paper published last year showed an association between lithium in drinking water and decreased dementia risk.
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The trouble with these studies is that other hidden factors might explain the associations, says Bruce Yankner at Harvard University. For example, it could be that instead of lithium, another metal in drinking water, such as magnesium, is responsible for lowering dementia risk, he says.
Yankner and his colleagues analysed levels of 27 metals in the brains of 285 people after they died, 94 of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 58 of whom had mild cognitive impairment, a precursor of the condition. The other participants showed no signs of cognitive decline at the time of their death.
Lithium levels in the prefrontal cortex – a brain region crucial for memory and decision-making – were about 36 per cent lower, on average, in people with Alzheimer’s disease than in those without any cognitive decline. For those with mild cognitive impairment, lithium levels were about 23 per cent lower. “We suspect that’s due to a number of environmental factors: dietary intake, genetics and so forth,” says Yankner.
