We were also interested in evaluating the impact of xenon onto basal forebrain septal cholinergic neurons, that is, a population of neurons that is also particularly vulnerable to degeneration in the context of the AD pathology.29,31,32 Xenon was not only robustly protective for cultured septal cholinergic neurons exposed to PDC but unexpectedly the gaseous treatment also had the capacity to strongly promote cholinergic neuron maturation in the absence of PDC. This evidence concerns the gene PDC and Alzheimer disease.