They found that young adult Alzheimer's mice exposed to 100-percent oxygen during several three-hour sessions demonstrated substantial memory loss not otherwise present at their age.

Young adult Alzheimer's mice exposed to normal air had no measurable memory loss, and neither did normal mice without any genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's disease.

'Although oxygen treatment beneficially increases the oxygen content of blood during or after major surgery, it also has several negative effects that we believe may trigger Alzheimer's symptoms in those destined to develop the disease,' said Arendash, the study's lead author.

Their study was published online this month in NeuroReport.