Neurogenesis and Lithium

Dear Friends.
You know how my few free hours are spent researching T21 and reading blogs of people who has walked my way. As a nutritionist I have found the greatest comfort in a book called what you can do who advocates for nutritional therapy. I am forever grateful to QADOSHYAH FISH for putting it all together. I love her blog and her research has been SO enlightening! I am also grateful to Teresa Cody for her "protocol".
It was while researching for a substitute to Prozac that I was led onto Lithium in a rather casual way,
while I was in Spain, a friend of mine who has been diagnosed BI-POLAR told me of Lithium as a neurogenesis factor used with Manic- depresive people, ADH children and Alzeihmer's disease. I left it as that and when I came back my mother in law had an article on Lithium and Alzeihmer's that tickled the researcher in me. I went to the computer and found enough evidence
that it worked, but what about Down Syndrome? Well, after much discussion we decided to try it ourselves and see. Leyla has been on Lithium for a couple of weeks and we are beginning to see improvement, specially in her interactions with people!
I must say here that Leyla has always been on the overachieving end of DS but as I tell people, the extra chromosome is there messing neurons up.
Anyway, a couple of days ago I came across an article in the web, in a magazine called Brain Pathology JAN 2010, presenting research done with DS mice and Lithium! I couldn't believe my eyes.
My dear hubby got us a copy from a library here in Florida for free!! I have been reading it and jargon aside it is amazing!
Here is the abstract:

Lithium Restores Neurogenesis in the Subventricular Zone of the Ts65Dn Mouse, a Model for Down Syndrome

Authors: Bianchi, Patrizia; Ciani, Elisabetta; Contestabile, Andrea; Guidi, Sandra; Bartesaghi, Renata
Source: Brain Pathology, Volume 20, Number 1, January 2010 , pp. 106-118(13)
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
Down syndrome (DS), a high-incidence genetic pathology, involves brain hypoplasia and mental retardation. Emerging evidence suggests that reduced neurogenesis may be a major determinant of brain underdevelopment in DS. To establish whether it is possible to improve neurogenesis in DS, Ts65Dn mice—the most widely used model for DS—and euploid mice were treated with control or lithium chow for 1 month. During the last 3 days animals received one daily injection of 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU)—a marker of proliferating cells—and were sacrificed 24 h after the last injection. Neurogenesis was examined in the subventricular zone (SVZ), a region that retains a neurogenic potential across life. We found that Ts65Dn mice had less (−40%) BrdU+ cells than euploid mice, indicating severe proliferation impairment. Treatment with lithium increased the number of Brdu+ cells in both euploid and Ts65Dn mice. In the latter the number of Brdu+ cells became similar to that of untreated euploid mice. Our study shows that lithium is able to restore cell proliferation in the SVZ of the Ts65Dn mouse and point at treatments with mood stabilizers as a potential tool to improve neurogenesis in patients with DS.



I feel that with this, the GB, and the Curcumin we may have a better chance at improving our children's cognitive development and slow down their oxidation processes. I am so thrilled!!!!!!!
I have posted it on the Changing Mind Foundation web but no one seems to notice it. Ce la Vie!