Repeated Thermal Therapy Up-Regulates Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase and Augments Angiogenesis in a Mouse Model of Hindlimb Ischemia

Far-Infrared Therapy

“…In particular, FIR may improve endothelial function, which is observed not only in animal studies (11,12,14) but also in one clinical study (13). Yu et al (11) suggested that the beneficial effect of FIR therapy on skin blood flow may be related to the l-arginine/nitric oxide (NO) pathway.…”

“…Yu et al (11) suggested that the beneficial effect of FIR therapy on skin blood flow may be related to the l-arginine/nitric oxide (NO) pathway. In this respect, Akasaki et al (12) found that repeated FIR therapy could upregulate endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression and augment angiogenesis in an apolipoprotein E-deficient mouse model of unilateral hind limb ischemia. Moreover, Ikeda et al (14) reported that 4 wk of sauna therapy significantly increased the serum nitrate concentrations as well as the expression of mRNA and protein of eNOS in the aortas of TO-2 hamsters.…”

“…The application of FIR radiation includes food preservation (8) and health promotion (9 -10). Animal studies also demonstrated that FIR improves skin blood flow (11,12), leading to the use of FIR in the treatment of ischemic lesions and necrosis of skin tissue as a result of trauma, diabetes, and peripheral arterial occlusive disease. In addition, some studies indicated that FIR therapy may improve endothelial function and reduce the frequency of some cardiovascular dis-eases (13)(14)(15).…”

Hemodialysis Vascular Access Dysfunction

“…In experimental models, far infrared therapy has been shown to improve skin blood flow and endothelial function in cardiovascular disease [187][188][189] . The rationale for far infrared therapy to treat dialysis vascular access stenosis is that the dialysis vascular access in patients are located at a superficial site and improving access flow may improve vascular access performance.…”

Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Modulates Angiogenesis in Ischemic Hindlimb of Rat

“…Hindlimb ischemia is a valid model for investigating in-vivo angiogenesis. To explain the role of eNOS on angiogenesis, Akasaki et al induced angiogenesis via eNOS using thermal therapy in mice with hindlimb ischemia 15 , and angiogenesis was also induced by injection of animal eNOS plasmid and human eNOS gene transfer in ischemic hindlimb model 16,17 , but the role of iNOS in angiogenesis has not been explained completely. In this study we tested the role of iNOS on angiogenesis in a rat model of hindlimb ischemia.…”