Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity

Abstract 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 dyna...

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Autores principales: Hadi Zadeh-Haghighi, Christoph Simon
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/1f5a37f7c7a74e61b0f614893b6b2612
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:1f5a37f7c7a74e61b0f614893b6b26122021-12-02T17:34:31ZEntangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity10.1038/s41598-021-91388-92045-2322https://doaj.org/article/1f5a37f7c7a74e61b0f614893b6b26122021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91388-9https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract 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.Hadi Zadeh-HaghighiChristoph SimonNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Hadi Zadeh-Haghighi
Christoph Simon
Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
description Abstract 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.
format article
author Hadi Zadeh-Haghighi
Christoph Simon
author_facet Hadi Zadeh-Haghighi
Christoph Simon
author_sort Hadi Zadeh-Haghighi
title Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
title_short Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
title_full Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
title_fullStr Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
title_full_unstemmed Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
title_sort entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/1f5a37f7c7a74e61b0f614893b6b2612
work_keys_str_mv AT hadizadehhaghighi entangledradicalsmayexplainlithiumeffectsonhyperactivity
AT christophsimon entangledradicalsmayexplainlithiumeffectsonhyperactivity
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