Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Increases Stem Cells by Eight-Fold

A scientific study completed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reports that hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOT) are a safe and effective way to mobilize stem cells.

Stem cells, also called progenitor cells, are crucial to the repair of injured tissues and organs. Hyperbaric oxygen treatments increase by eight-fold the number of circulating stem cells throughout the body. Healthy recovery of injured and diseased tissues is the ultimate goal and stem cells play an essential role.

In response to injury, stem cells move out of bone marrow to the injured sites, where they differentiate into specialized cells that are important to the healing process. Stem cells from bone marrow are capable of providing specialized functions in many different organs and tissues throughout the body. This movement, or mobilization, of stem cells can be triggered by a variety of stimuli including pharmaceutical agents and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

While 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 Stephen Thom, MD, Ph.D., Professor 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 therapy and offers a new 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."

It is hoped that future study of hyperbaric oxygen's role in mobilizing stem cells will provide a wide array of treatments for combating injury and disease.

The completed study is scheduled for publication in the April 2006 edition of the American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology. (This article is available on the internet: here)

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