Xeno is a noble gas used for the production of stroboscopic lights, photography lamps and cinema. It is also used in medicine, as anesthetic, and is being tested for the treatment of some brain lesions, such as treatment for depression and other psychiatric disorders. Recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine also indicates another use in the field of health, potentially revolutionary: Alzheimer’s therapy.
The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Wales Swansea, tested the effect of the xenon on the micoglia, a brain tissue with immune functions, responsible for eliminating pathogens, dead cells and cellular debris from the central nervous system. The excessive activation of the micoglia can lead to the appearance of neuronflammation, a chronic process that damages neurons, and plays a role in the development of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s.
For their experiment, British researchers have created a special tool with which to subject laboratory mice to xenon therapy. And they tested the effects of the gas on an animal model of Alzheimer’s, studying the alterations that underwent the cells of the microwth of the mice. Their analysis revealed that the therapy is able to modulate the state of activation of the micoglia, bringing it back to a state that researchers define pre-neurodegeneration, in which chronic neurofiammation is reduced.
As a consequence of the exposure to the xenon, the microwth of the animals also began to dispose of the amyloid plaques present in their brains, considered one of the most probable causes of the ALZHEIMER’s onset. The researchers also noticed a reduction in cerebral atrophy and an increase in the connections between neurons. All clues that seem to indicate a beneficial effect of xenon gas, potentially capable of relieving and slowing down some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
To have some certainty, experiments on human beings will be needed. And that’s what the researchers aim to make: the first trial is already scheduled for this year, and if the results will be the desired ones, the xenon therapy could be experimented with relatively quick times on a large number of patients.