This Anesthesia Gas Could Be the Next Big Alzheimer’s Treatment

The next Alzheimer’s treatment may come from an unexpected place. In new research published this week, scientists have found evidence in mice that xenon gas can help treat neurodegenerative conditions.

Scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the University of Washington led the study. published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine. In mice with Alzheimer’s-like disease, xenon gas was shown to reduce inflammation and brain shrinkage. Researchers are now starting early human trials to further test the therapy’s potential.

Xenon gas is already used in medicine as an anesthetic and medical imaging agent. Research has also suggested that xenon may help Protect the brainAnd some studies have examined its use as a treatment for depression and other brain-related disorders (unfortunately, depression research is a Mixed bag so far). Because xenon can pass through the blood-brain barrier—a shield that protects the brain from infection but which prevents most drugs from reaching it—scientists were curious whether xenon could also protect the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.

Researchers tested inhaled xenon on two types of mice designed to develop the brain destruction seen in Alzheimer’s. In these mice, the gas appeared to activate a protective response from the brain’s unique immune cells, called microglia, and this activation helped their brains resist the damaging changes associated with Alzheimer’s. For example, mice showed reduced levels of inflammation and atrophy in the brain. The researchers also observed promising signs of amyloid plaque reduction, one of the biomarkers strongly linked to the development of Alzheimer’s.

“This is a very novel finding that shows that simply inhaling an inert gas can have such a profound neuroprotective effect,” said senior researcher Oleg Butovsky, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. statement Mass. From General Brigham. “A major limitation in Alzheimer’s disease research and treatment is that it is extremely difficult to design drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier—but xenon gas does.”

Although these findings are based only on mice, they are compelling enough for researchers to take things a step further. The team is ready to launch one Phase I trial Over the next few months that will test the safety and immunogenicity of xenon gas on healthy human subjects. Looking ahead, this discovery could pave the way for new possibilities for harnessing xenon’s potential for brain healing.

“If the clinical trial goes well, the opportunities for using xenon gas are great,” said co-author Howard Weiner, co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham & Women’s and principal investigator of the new trial, in a statement. may open the door to treatment.”

Although there have been some important advances in the treatment of Alzheimer’s over the years, the best drugs still offer little effect in slowing the progression of the disorder. So new therapies that can attack Alzheimer’s from a different angle would be very welcome. About 7 million Americans today the thought Living with Alzheimer’s – a number that could nearly double by 2050.