Mental health drug could be used to treat osteoarthritis, says new study

Lithium, commonly used as a mental health drug, could be used to treat osteoarthritis, a study by researchers from the UK and New Zealand suggests.

The study, published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, was carried out at Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Otago.

When testing the effects of lithium chloride on animal cartilage, researchers found that it slowed the degradation associated with osteoarthritis.

Researchers used bovine cartilage samples exposed to inflammatory molecules to mimic the effects of arthritis and then treated the tissue with lithium chloride.

The study demonstrated that lithium could be used to prevent the degradation and loss of mechanical integrity of cartilage in patients with arthritis. They also found that, long-term dietary use of lithium did not cause arthritis in their sample, contrary to some previous reports.

The study’s co-author from London, Prof Martin Knight says, “Osteoarthritis has a devastating impact on the lives of many people in the UK and it’s vital that we look for novel ways to prevent it.

“While we’re still at the early stage of researching lithium’s effects on cartilage and its suitability as a treatment, the possibility that an already widely available pharmaceutical could slow its progress is a significant step forward.”

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