Could oxygen therapy reverse Alzheimer’s disease?

The study, which combined the use of HBOT in the treatment of animals genetically modified to develop Alzheimer’s disease and a group of individuals over the age of 65 who were already suffering from a decline in blood memory – the stage before Alzheimer’s disease – has given several positive results. These included improved vascular function, blood flow to the brain, memory capacity, attention and information processing speed, as well as a decrease in amyloid load in the brain.

Amyloids are insoluble proteins. Beta-amyloid deposits in the walls of blood vessels in the brain are the most common vascular disease in Alzheimer’s disease.

“The therapy prompts our bodies to make the necessary repairs to reverse the process that results in Alzheimer’s disease,” Efrati said. Jerusalem post.

A press release from Tel Aviv University explained, “Hyperbaric medicine is a form of therapy that requires patients to be kept in special rooms in which the atmospheric pressure is much higher than that normally experienced at the level of. the sea. In addition, they breathe air composed of 100% oxygen.

Teacher. Uri Ashery (credit: Aging / Uri Ashery)

The treatment is already in use for other indications and is known to be relatively safe when managed by a healthcare professional. A previous study by Efrati and a team from Shamir Medical Center in November found that when healthy adults over the age of 64 were placed in a pressurized chamber and given pure oxygen for 90 minutes a day, five days a week for three months, not only was the aging process delayed – it was actually reversed.

This study was carried out in two stages. First, mice were exposed to HBOT and then studied using two-photon live animal imaging. By examining the brain tissue of mice, “it has been conclusively proven (…) that a certain therapeutic protocol results in improved vascular function and the creation of new blood vessels,” the statement said. “It also prevents the deposition of new amyloid plaques on brain cells and even leads to the removal of existing amyloid plaque deposits.”

Positive results in mouse models have been found to correlate with treatment results in people over 65 with cognitive decline. The therapy consisted of a series of 60 sessions of HBOT in pressure chambers over a period of 90 days.

Efrati described the process as having participants sit in a room that looks like an airplane with an oxygen mask on. In the chamber, individuals were administered HBOT using 100% oxygen in an environmental pressure greater than absolute atmosphere to increase the amount of dissolved oxygen in body tissues.

AT SOME point, participants were asked to remove their masks, bringing their oxygen back to normal levels. However, during this time, the researchers found that fluctuations in free oxygen concentration were interpreted at the cellular level as a lack of oxygen – rather than interpreting the absolute level of oxygen.

Teacher. Shai Efrati. (credit: courtesy Tel Aviv University)

In other words, repeated intermittent hyperoxic exposures (increased oxygen level) induced many mediators and cellular mechanisms that are usually induced during hypoxia (decreased oxygen levels) – which Efrati explained s ‘calls the hyperoxic-hypoxic paradox.

The results: 16-23% increase in cerebral blood flow, 16.5% improvement in memory, and improvements in both attention and information processing speed.

“After a series of hyperbaric treatments, elderly patients who already suffered from memory loss showed improved blood flow to the brain, as well as real improvement in cognitive performance,” said Professor Uri Ashery, also of the ‘Tel Aviv University, which helped with the study. “Therefore, we have succeeded in demonstrating the latent potential of hyperbaric medicine for the treatment of neurological conditions which arise from hypoxia, that is to say from an oxygen deficit reaching the cells.”

Another member of the Tel Aviv research team, Dr Ronit Shapira, said: “The combination of an animal model from which we could learn the pathology of the disease, as well as the existing and available therapy, makes arise the hope that we will now be able to to tackle one of the greatest challenges of the Western world. According to our results, hyperbaric treatment given at a young age is likely to completely prevent this serious disease. “

Dr Pablo Blinder (credit: courtesy Tel Aviv University)

Efrati explained that until now it was thought that amyloid deposits were the main cause of Alzheimer’s disease, but it is now understood that amyloids are only a “biomarker of the disease” and that the main cause. is linked to vascular damage.

“By addressing the root problem that causes cognitive deterioration with age, we are actually paving the way for prevention,” Efrati said. “It is likely that hyperbaric medicine could potentially offer the possibility of living with good brain function without relating to chronological age. The idea is to start treatment before clinical symptoms of dementia appear and before extensive brain tissue deterioration and loss. It is at this stage that the blood vessels become blocked and the blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain decreases – a phenomenon that can already occur at a relatively early age.

How early?

“It’s still an open problem,” Efrati said, adding that the study is part of a comprehensive, long-term research program and that he hopes other answers will come soon.

Dr Ronit Shapira (credit: courtesy Tel Aviv University)