Low‑dose oral lithium may help slow the decline of verbal memory, trial suggests

An exploratory clinical trial from the University of Pittsburgh suggests that low‑dose oral lithium may help slow the decline of verbal memory, or ability to remember and recall words and sentences, in older adults with mild cognitive impairment, particularly among those with evidence of amyloid beta-one of the hallmark biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease.

The study, published in JAMA Neurology on March 2, was designed to answer a critical early question: Is lithium promising enough to justify a larger clinical trial aimed at slowing Alzheimer's‑related cognitive decline?

The study was led by Dr. Ariel Gildengers, professor of psychiatry at Pitt and a geriatric psychiatrist at UPMC known for his research on lithium's effects on the aging brain. Gildengers' prior work has shown that long‑term lithium use in older adults with bipolar disorder is associated with better brain integrity-a finding that helped shape the current trial's scientific rationale.

In a prior study, we observed that older adults with bipolar disorder who take lithium long‑term tend to show markers of better brain integrity. The new question was whether those apparent neuroprotective effects might extend beyond mood disorders-and whether we could test that rigorously in a prospective clinical trial."