Oxygen against Alzheimer's
Hyperbaric oxygenation improved memory in Alzheimer's patients
Anastasia Kuznetsova-Fantoni, N+1
Israeli doctors were able to improve memory and cognitive abilities in six patients with the initial stage of Alzheimer's disease by giving them a course of hyperbaric therapy. After 60 sessions of treatment, the patients' cerebral blood flow increased, and they began to perform cognitive tests better.
The results of the study are published in the journal Aging (Shapira et al., Hyperbaric oxygen therapy alleviates vascular dysfunction and amyloid burden in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model and in elderly patients).
Alzheimer's disease is often accompanied by vascular disorders, since amyloid is deposited not only in brain tissue, but also in brain vessels. This syndrome, concomitant with Alzheimer's disease, has its own name – cerebral amyloid angiopathy. It is accompanied by a decrease in cerebral blood flow, which correlates with the severity of cognitive impairment.
In order to increase blood oxygen saturation with a lack of blood supply, hyperbaric oxygenation is used, which has proven itself well in clinical trials on patients with head injuries: it has reduced the impact of trauma on people's mental abilities. Scientists have already tested it on animals with Alzheimer's disease and have also achieved good results – in mice, beta-amyloid deposits in the brain and atrophy of hippocampal neurons decreased.
Israeli doctors led by Uri Ashery from Tel Aviv University conducted tests of hyperbaric oxygenation in humans. They recruited six patients with memory disorders, which doctors assessed as signs of incipient Alzheimer's disease. Before treatment, the patients performed tests that assessed their memory, and the test results were below the population average for the age of the participants and their level of education (an average of 86.6 points). At the same time, the cognitive abilities of the patients did not differ from the average value in their age group (on average 102.4 points). Also, before starting therapy, the participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging with contrast to assess blood flow in the cerebral vessels.
The patients underwent 60 sessions of treatment in a hyperbaric chamber: five sessions each week lasting 90 minutes. After the end of the course of therapy, the patients again underwent cognitive tests and MRI with contrast. It turned out that the participants not only increased blood flow (by 16-23 percent in different areas of the brain), but also improved test results. They scored higher in the cognitive function test (an increase from 102.4 points to 109.5 points, p=0.004). Also, the average results of memory tests improved in patients – they rose from 86.6 points to 100.9 points.
Brain maps illustrating blood flow (above – before treatment, below – after it). A drawing from an article in Aging.
Doctors believe that hyperbaric oxygenation can be used in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease or at the first signs of memory impairment. In this case, circulatory disorders in the brain and hypoxia are still reversible, and it will be possible to slow down the development of the disease.
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