Therapeutic Inhalation of Hydrogen Gas for Alzheimer's Disease Patients and Subsequent Long-Term Follow-Up as a Disease-Modifying Treatment: An Open Label Pilot Study

• Main Authors: Hirohisa Ono (Author), Yoji Nishijima (Author), Shigeo Ohta (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

(1) Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Hydrogen gas (H₂) is a therapeutic medical gas with multiple functions such as anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-cell death, and the stimulation of energy metabolism. To develop a disease-modifying treatment for AD through multifactorial mechanisms, an open label pilot study on H₂ treatment was conducted. (2) Methods: Eight patients with AD inhaled 3% H₂ gas for one hour twice daily for 6 months and then followed for 1 year without inhaling H₂ gas. The patients were clinically assessed using the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog). To objectively assess the neuron integrity, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was applied to neuron bundles passing through the hippocampus. (3) Results: The mean individual ADAS-cog change showed significant improvement after 6 months of H₂ treatment (−4.1) vs. untreated patients (+2.6). As assessed by DTI, H₂ treatment significantly improved the integrity of neurons passing through the hippocampus vs. the initial stage. The improvement by ADAS-cog and DTI assessments were maintained during the follow-up after 6 months (significantly) or 1 year (non-significantly). (4) Conclusions: This study suggests that H₂ treatment not only relieves temporary symptoms, but also has disease-modifying effects, despite its limitations.

Item Description

10.3390/ph16030434
1424-8247