Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
Hadi Zadeh‑Haghigh & Christoph Simon

It is known that bipolar disorder and its lithium treatment involve the modulation of oxidative
stress. Moreover, it has been observed that lithium’s effects are isotope-dependent. Based on these findings, here we propose that lithium exerts its effects by influencing the recombination dynamics of a naturally occurring radical pair involving oxygen.

We develop a simple model inspired by the
radical-pair mechanism in cryptochrome in the context of avian magnetoreception and xenon-induced anesthesia. Our model reproduces the observed isotopic dependence in the lithium treatment of hyperactivity in rats. It predicts a magnetic-field dependence of the effectiveness of lithium, which provides one potential experimental test of our hypothesis. Our findings show that Nature might harness quantum entanglement for the brain’s cognitive processes.

January 25, 2022

Active ingredient in cannabis protects aging brain cells
Salk researchers find cannabinol preserves mitochondrial function and prevents oxidative damage to cells

LA JOLLA—Decades of research on medical cannabis has focused on the compounds THC and CBD in clinical applications. But less is known about the therapeutic properties of cannabinol (CBN). Now, a new study by Salk scientists shows how CBN can protect nerve cells from oxidative damage, a major pathway to cell death. The findings, published online January 6, 2022, in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine, suggest CBN has the potential for treating age-related neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s.

“We’ve found that cannabinol protects neurons from oxidative stress and cell death, two of the major contributors to Alzheimer’s,” says senior author Pamela Maher, a research professor and head of Salk’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory. “This discovery could one day lead to the development of new therapeutics for treating this disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, like Parkinson’s disease.”