Skip to main content

BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Cell. Neurosci.
Sec. Non-Neuronal Cells
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fncel.2024.1485427
This article is part of the Research Topic Cellular and Animal Models of Neurodegenerative and Neuroinflammatory Conditions View all articles

Application of an in vitro neuroinflammation model to evaluate the efficacy of magnesium-lithium alloys

Provisionally accepted
Krathika Bhat Krathika Bhat *Heike Helmholz Heike Helmholz Regine Willumeit-Römer Regine Willumeit-Römer *
  • Helmholtz Center Hereon, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HZ), Geesthacht, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Mg-Li alloys can be promising candidates as bioresorbable Li-releasing implants for bipolar disorder and other neurodegenerative disorders. In order to compare the therapeutic efficacy of conventional Li salts and Li delivered through Mg-Li alloy extracts, we tested an in vitro model based on the neuroinflammation hypothesis of mood disorders (peripheral inflammation inducing neuroinflammation) wherein, a coculture of microglia and astrocytes was treated with conditioned medium from pro-inflammatory macrophages. Two alloys, Mg-1.6Li and Mg-9.5Li, were tested in the form of material extracts and well-known outcomes of Li treatment such as GSK3β phosphorylation (indirect flow cytometry) and influence on inflammation-related gene expression (qPCR) were compared against Li salts. This is the first study demonstrating that Li can increase the phosphorylation of GSK3β in glial cells in the presence of excess Mg. Furthermore, Mg-Li alloys were more effective than Li salts in downregulating IL6 and upregulating the neurotrophin GDNF. Mg had no antagonistic effects towards Li-driven downregulation of astrogliosis markers. Overall, the results provide evidence to support further studies employing Mg-Li alloys for neurological applications.

    Keywords: Neuroinflammation, glial cells, Lithium, Magnesium, Bipolar Disorder, in vitro

    Received: 23 Aug 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Bhat, Helmholz and Willumeit-Römer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Krathika Bhat, Helmholtz Center Hereon, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HZ), Geesthacht, Germany
    Regine Willumeit-Römer, Helmholtz Center Hereon, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HZ), Geesthacht, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.