Potential Lithium and Fluoride Interactions in Studies of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3

The discoveries of the pluripotent role of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) are pointing to GSK-3 as a potential target for therapy of neurodegenerative disorders and type 2 diabetes. GSK-3 is a constitutively active protein kinase that is inhibited in response to various extracellular signals. Lithium has been found to be an important inhibitor of GSK-3 activity and its use as a laboratory tool has contributed to the understanding of the role of GSK-3. Fluoride has been often used in study designs on GSK-3 as the inhibitor of protein phosphatases. Potential interactions of fluoride with the observed lithium effects are discussed.