Suppressive effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on immune responses of normal and autoimmune mice

Abstract

We studied the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) on immune responses in normal and autoimmune mice. Mice were exposed to HBO in an animal chamber at a pressure of 252.5 kPa for 1 h and once a day for 5 days. The immunization of C3H/He mice with sheep erythrocytes induced marked anti-sheep erythrocyte antibody response on day 7. However, this response was markedly suppressed in HBO-treated mice. The suppression is dependent on the duration of HBO and it works on the early and the late stage of antibody responses. HBO suppresses the development of both sheep erythrocyte-specific B cells and helper T cells after the immunization. Then, we tried to expose autoimmune mice to HBO. Spontaneous immunoglobulin production of NZB and MRL/lpr spleen cells was also significantly suppressed by HBO. Furthermore, long term HBO exposure results in the suppression of the development of autoimmune symptoms such as proteinuria, facial erythema and lymphadenopathy in MRL/lpr mice. All these results suggest that HBO is applicable for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Hyperbaric Oxygenation Ameliorates Indomethacin-Induced Enteropathy in Rats by Modulating TNF-α and IL-1β Production

“…In the present study, it is not clear if alleviated inflammation is due to reduced TNF-α and IL-1β production or reduction of TNF-α and IL-1β is secondary to reduced inflammation. Moreover, the immunomodulatory effect of HBO 2 , involving altered cytokine release by macrophages [36,37], including an immunosuppressive effect of HBO 2 [38], has been described. The present study suggests that the reduction of IL-1 production may play an important role in the immunosuppressive effect of HBO 2. Several factors seem to be important in the pathogenesis of INDO-induced intestinal lesions.…”

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) as a Therapeutic Option for Patients with Atopic Dermatitis (AD) – Own Experiences and Literature Review

“…Such a concept was proposed by Saito et al as early as 1991 [6], which was repeatedly experimentally confirmed over the following decades [17,23,44,45], with some researchers suggesting the possibility of using hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. [6,7,46,47,48].…”

“…[6,7,46,47,48]. Interestingly, one of the studies demonstrated that even an increased ambient pressure alone, without additional oxygenation of the breathing mix or its replacement with O2 also led to a reduction of TNF-α levels in experimental animals [24].…”

“…Japanese researchers [6] noted that HBO significantly lowers the level of anti-DNA IgG antibodies and immunological complexes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and inhibits the production of antibodies to sheep erythrocytes in mice previously intraperitoneally immunised with sheep red blood cells. They were the first to put forward the thesis that HBO does not inhibit any specific mechanism but affects the inhibition of the immunological response mechanism, understood as a whole system of responses, and that the said inhibitory effect is related both to T cell and B cell activity.…”

“…Moreover, there are attempts to use oxygen hyperbaric therapy to treat less obvious groups of diseases. By analysing the available literature, we may also find publications concerned with the effect of HBOT on the immune system and the use of hyperbaric oxygenation to treat atopic dermatitis (AD), some of which originate in Poland [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11].…”