Lithium chloride

2 papers3 findings

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

On aging: the drug’s trials ARN judged to be about aging, of every trial that tests it for any use.

No results posted: trials that ended more than a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper in ARN’s record.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

2 independent labs in 2 countries

Funders: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and 4 more

Humans1
Model organisms1

Outcomes

Mating latency

no changein flies1

1 study

Lithium chloride has no effect on mating latency in flies.
“LiCl had no detectable effect on male late-life mating latency, sterility, or paternity share”
Model organismslate-lifedietary10 mM and 25 mMmales
No evidence lithium supplementation extends lifespan in male Drosophila melanogaster
Biogerontology10 Mar 2026

Lifespan

downin flies1

1 study

Lithium chloride decreases lifespan in flies.
“both a concentration previously reported as beneficial (25 mM), and a lower concentration (10 mM) reduced survival, with effects driven exclusively by UM males”
Model organismsin unmated (UM) malesdietary10 mM and 25 mMmales
No evidence lithium supplementation extends lifespan in male Drosophila melanogaster
Biogerontology10 Mar 2026

Hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury

downin mice1

1 study

Lithium chloride decreases hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury in mice.
“therapeutic targeting of GSK3β by microdose lithium or ferroptosis inhibition by Fer-1 alleviated HIRI in aged mice.”
Animalshepatic ischemia-reperfusion injuryliver
Aging-associated GSK3β overexpression exacerbates hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury through Nrf2 deficiency-induced hepatocyte ferroptosis
Life sciences16 Jan 2026

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