For most types of dementia, there’s building evidence that high levels of astrocyte products in serum is REALLY bad, and can provide a warning signal up to 20 years before onset of significant symptoms (in the case of Alzheimers). Currently, evidence supports the association between elevated astrocyte products and Huntington’s, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis (NfL == GFAP), Fronto-Temporal, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s.
The longer lead time will allow some mitigation of the mitochondrial damage which eventually results in cellular insults. We could probably extend human lifespans out ~ 2-3 years on average and drastically improve quality of life among the aged by testing early and yearly.
Interestingly, cetaceans also experience plaque/tangle/body buildup much in the same way humans do. Probably not very surprising taking a look at their brains, but this does add evidence to the conceit that plaques aren’t causal to dementia as a whole, but degeneration in astrocytes (and oligos) are.
Edit: Wondering if rather than medications we could use pressurized oxygen delivered via mechanism similar to a C/PAP machine. The effect continues to be dose dependent above 2.5 bar, so 5 bar at 50/50 O2/N while sleeping would probably reduce a lot of the inflammation and metabolic issues for people who are susceptible to them. It’s not going to prevent all dementia, but may delay onset/severity of symptoms in a mechanic that’s WAY better than pharma interventions.
Heh, or maybe just make beds built around HBOT chambers, and figure out how to make it auto-sterilize. Would imagine they’d get gross pretty quickly especially among people with motor control issues, so that’d probably be a pretty high priority or we’d kill everyone with respiratory damage/infections.
Might also make an interesting litmus test for conditions like “autism” and “schizophrenia”, which shouldn’t be sensitive to HBOT (assuming metabolic stress wasn’t the primary factor).
Hrm, maybe even a 33/33/33 O2/N/N2O mix? Maybe repurpose some atmo sep/concentrator experiments to pull off something like this? UGH, have to keep stuff like this from invading my brain, still not anywhere near complete on ultrasound yet.
This reminds me of the Superman conceit, that the properties of a “yellow” sun imparted dramatic changes to Superman’s physiological processes, maybe we could magically hack our atmosphere to provide a similarly dramatic impact on human processes, even if that hack was limited to a mask, bed, or room. It seems quite a bit safer to change the environment than to modify the machine itself (manipulating genetics directly) if there isn’t a show stopping issue.
Astrocytes in the pathophysiology of neuroinfection