Ono Hirohisa, Nishijima Yoji, Ohta Shigeo
Departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology, Nishijima Hospital, Ohoka, 2835-7, Numazu City 410-0022, Japan.
Department of Neurology Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2023 Mar 13;16(3):434. doi: 10.3390/ph16030434.
(1) Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Hydrogen gas (H) 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 H treatment was conducted. (2) Methods: Eight patients with AD inhaled 3% H gas for one hour twice daily for 6 months and then followed for 1 year without inhaling H 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 H treatment (-4.1) vs. untreated patients (+2.6). As assessed by DTI, H 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 H treatment not only relieves temporary symptoms, but also has disease-modifying effects, despite its limitations.
（1）背景：阿尔茨海默病（AD）是一种进行性致命的神经退行性疾病。氢气（H₂）是一种具有多种功能的治疗性医用气体，如抗氧化、抗炎、抗细胞死亡以及刺激能量代谢。为了通过多因素机制开发针对AD的疾病修饰治疗方法，开展了一项关于氢气治疗的开放标签试点研究。（2）方法：8名AD患者每天两次吸入3%氢气，每次1小时，持续6个月，然后在不吸入氢气的情况下随访1年。使用阿尔茨海默病评估量表认知子量表（ADAS-cog）对患者进行临床评估。为了客观评估神经元完整性，将先进的磁共振成像（MRI）扩散张量成像（DTI）应用于穿过海马体的神经束。（3）结果：与未治疗患者（+2.6）相比，氢气治疗6个月后，个体ADAS-cog变化均值显示出显著改善（-4.1）。通过DTI评估，与初始阶段相比，氢气治疗显著改善了穿过海马体的神经元的完整性。ADAS-cog和DTI评估的改善在6个月（显著）或1年（不显著）的随访期间得以维持。（4）结论：本研究表明，尽管存在局限性，但氢气治疗不仅能缓解暂时症状，还具有疾病修饰作用。
