Hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a new treatment approach for Alzheimer’s disease (AD): Alongside the increase in life expectancy, the prevalence of age-related disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases, is on the rise. For example, AD, the most common form of dementia in the elderly, accounts for 60–80% of all dementia cases. However, there is presently no cure for this disease and no effective treatment that would slow disease progression despite billions of dollars invested in drug development. As AD is a complex disease, the development of effective and specific drugs is difficult. Thus, examining alternative treatments that target several disease-related pathways in parallel is of the utmost importance. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) is the medical administration of 100% oxygen at environmental pressure greater than 1 atmosphere absolute (ATA). HBOT has been shown to improve neurological functions and life quality following neurological incidents such as stroke and traumatic brain injury and to improve the performance of healthy subjects in multitasking.
In Conclusion
In summary, we discussed the effects of HBOT on the pathology of the 3xTg mouse model of AD. Application of HBOT in the clinic calls for further optimization to achieve similar effects in human patients. Specifically, the optimal or ideal treatment should be determined with respect to oxygen pressure, time of treatment, and sustainability of the treatment. We expect that similar to other neurological disorders, HBOT will show promising results in the treatment of AD.
