Posted on 12/29/2005 11:41:18 PM PST by neverdem
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 Stephen Thom, MD, Ph.D., 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.
This article is available on the web at: http://ajpheart.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/00888.2005
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Stem cell ping
Very interesting!
Please also put me on your stem cell ping list.
( I am on your med-science ping list, that's how I found this article)
My iron lung, its working again!
Calling Michael Jackson...
IOW, the Pre-Noahic World.
Hyperbaric oxygen treatments is a one of my favorite subjects ping.
Hmmmm---the immediate connection that springs to mind is how hyperbaric treatment would accelerate/enhance treatments that ADD stem cells to the blood (in addition to this "natural enhancement" effect).
A number of NFL football teams have used hyperbaric units to speed recovery. It speeds healing and cuts recovery time.
Yeah I wondered about that too...a lot of noxious bacteria don't like high oxygen levels under pressure.
But any way hyperbaric oxygen has been shown to prevent infections and save limbs that were on the verge of being amputated. I would like to see a study done on the rates of cancer and other disease in high elevation areas compared to low elevations areas.
Please add me to you list. Thank you
I was thinking the same thing. My Dad died of multiple myeloma three years ago.
The Vancouver Canucks used it during their run to the Stanley Cup in 93-94. They probably needed more time in it as the NY Rangers beat them.
Sorry, felt like putting in a hockey reference today.
My father got 20 hyperbaric treatments to clear up a nasty infection between two toes. It worked. He has low circulation to his legs. Hyperbaric oxygen is forced into the wound area helping the healing. Oxygen is life.
And of course, they would never fake the results of stem cell studies.
It's likely that this treatment can help many conditions but it's under utilized.
You'll find fraud in any human endeavor. In Science, it's far more the exception rather than the rule because it's so much more likely to be exposed. If it can't be reproduced, it "don't mean nothing."(bad grammar intended)
IMHO, the only interesting question with the South Korean fraud is why he thought he could get away with it, especially with such a high profile topic?
That's hard to say when you don't know why they developed the original malignancy. Was it nature, nurture or some combination of genetic predisposition and environmental insult?
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