HBOT mobilizes stem cells

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From http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec05/O2stmcls.htm

December 28, 2005

Penn Study Finds Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments Mobilize Stem Cells

Recovery of Injured and Diseased Tissue the Ultimate Goal

(Philadelphia, PA)- According to a study to be published in The

American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulation Physiology, a

typical course of hyperbaric oxygen treatments increases by

eight-fold the number of stem cells circulating in a patient's body.

Stem cells, also called progenitor cells are crucial to injury

repair. The study currently appears on-line and is scheduled for

publication in the April 2006 edition of the American Journal.

Stem cells exist in the bone marrow of human beings and animals and

are capable of changing their nature to become part of many different

organs and tissues. In response to injury, these cells move from the

bone marrow to the injured sites, where they differentiate into cells

that assist in the healing process. The movement, or mobilization, of

stem cells can be triggered by a variety of stimuli - including

pharmaceutical agents and hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Where as

drugs are associated with a host of side effects, hyperbaric oxygen

treatments carry a significantly lower risk of such effects.

" This is the safest way clinically to increase stem cell circulation,

far safer than any of the pharmaceutical options, " said Thom,

MD, PhD, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicine and lead author of the study. " This

study provides information on the fundamental mechanisms for

hyperbaric oxygen and offers a new theoretical therapeutic option for

mobilizing stem cells. "

" We reproduced the observations from humans in animals in order to

identify the mechanism for the hyperbaric oxygen effect, " added Thom.

" We found that hyperbaric oxygen mobilizes stem/progenitor cells

because it increases synthesis of a molecule called nitric oxide in

the bone marrow. This synthesis is thought to trigger enzymes that

mediate stem/progenitor cell release. "

Hopefully, future study of hyperbaric oxygen's role in mobilizing

stem cells will provide a wide array of treatments for combating

injury and disease.

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