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The
National Hyperbaric Centre Ireland
53/54 Great Strand Street,
Dublin 1.
Tel: 01 8733044, Fax: 01 8733969, e-mail hyperinfo@eircom.net
Emergency Number: 087 9729366
Source:University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Date: December 28, 2005
Penn Study Finds Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments Mobilize Stem Cells
Science
Daily — 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
For more information... See links to related sites
The management and friends of the
National Hyperbaric Centre (NHC) would like to thank PADI Americas for
their support and good wishes. Their donation of $1000 from The PADI
Chamber Endowment Fund is to date, the only contribution that this
facility has received and for the positive reinforcement that their kind
donation has given us, we are extremely grateful.
