‘Novel approach’ to treating Alzheimer’s disease discovered — it’s a gas

Breathe easy — researchers say they may have found an innovative approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease.

There is no cure for the brain disorder, which affects more than 6 million Americans. Treatment progress has been slow because scientists don’t fully understand what causes the complex disease.

Researchers are now looking to xenon — a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that showed protective effects in the brain when inhaled by mice. A clinical trial at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston is set to begin in the next few months.

Anesthesiologist Christopher Connor (from left) will work with principal investigator Howard Weiner to deliver xenon gas as part of a clinical trial building on Alzheimer’s prevention research led by Oleg Butovsky. Mass General Brigham

“One of the main limitations in the field of Alzheimer’s disease research and treatment is that it is extremely difficult to design medications that can pass the blood-brain barrier — but xenon gas does. We look forward to seeing this novel approach tested in humans,” said senior and co-corresponding study author Oleg Butovsky, a neuroscientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Xenon is used in photographic flashes, medical imaging, nuclear energy plants, anesthesia and even by climbers summiting Mount Everest because it promotes red blood cell production.

Xenon, a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas, has shown protective effects in the brain when inhaled by mice with Alzheimer’s disease. angellodeco – stock.adobe.com

Butovsky’s study, published Wednesday, showed that mice with Alzheimer’s that inhaled xenon in a custom chamber had milder brain inflammation, less brain cell loss and better cognitive function while building their nests. 

The key is that the gas triggered and increased a protective response from the mice’s microglia, the primary and most prominent immune cells within the brain.

Microglia are crucial for proper brain function — they address potential threats like infection, injury and cellular debris.

Microglial dysfunction is a critical component of Alzheimer’s, the study authors said, because defective microglia contribute significantly to brain inflammation and accumulation of amyloid beta plaques that are characteristic of the disease.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia — it causes memory loss, confusion, thinking problems and behavioral changes.

Butovsky’s findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

His team is devising ways to use xenon gas more efficiently and exploring its potential for easing multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease and eye conditions involving the loss of neurons.

“If the clinical trial goes well, the opportunities for the use of xenon gas are great,” said study co-author Dr. Howard Weiner, principal investigator of the upcoming trial. “It could open the door to new treatments for helping patients with neurologic diseases.”