How lithium stabilises mood is poorly understood but when the scientists investigated how it prolongs the lives of flies, they discovered a new drug target that could slow ageing — a molecule called glycogen synthase
«To improve our quality and length of life we must delay the onset of
The team found that lithium delays ageing by blocking
The study, published today in Cell Reports, shows that male and female flies live longer than average when given low doses of lithium during adulthood or later in life, regardless of their genetic
Different doses of lithium chloride were given to 160 adult flies to measure the effect on lifespan. Higher doses reduced lifespan but lower doses prolonged life by an average of 16% and maximum of 18% compared to a control group given sodium chloride.
The benefits of lithium were also seen when it was used as a transient and
«We studied the responses of thousands of flies in different conditions to monitor the effects of lithium and how it extends life. We found low doses not only prolong life but also shield the body from stress and block fat production for flies on a high sugar diet. Low doses also protect against the harmful effects of higher, toxic doses of lithium and other substances such as the pesticide paraquat," said
Principal investigator, Professor Dame Linda Partridge, Director of the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, said: «Our aim is to identify ways to intervene in ageing, with the end goal of keeping us all healthier for longer and compressing the time at the end of life when we suffer from physical decline and diseases. This can be done by diet, genetics or drugs, which is why we want to identify promising drug targets. The response we’ve seen in flies to low doses of lithium is very encouraging and our next step is to look at targeting
The study involved researchers from UCL, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). It was kindly supported by UCL, the Max Planck Society, the European Research Council, Research Into Ageing, the Wellcome Trust, Parkinson’s UK and Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Source: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0416/070416-fruit-flies-live-longer-on-lithium