Rejuvenation with oxygen
A simple and inexpensive way to reverse aging has been found
A new study by Israeli scientists shows that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can stop the aging of blood cells in healthy elderly people and reverse this process. The results are published in the journal Aging (Hachmo et al., Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases telomere length and decreases immunosenescence in isolated blood cells: a prospective trial).
Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Shamir Medical Center have discovered that a well-known method of high-pressure oxygen treatment in a pressure chamber can reverse two main processes associated with aging: shortening of telomeres and accumulation of old and faulty cells in the body.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used for more than a hundred years to treat decompression sickness in submariners and rescue people from carbon monoxide poisoning. The therapy involves inhaling pure oxygen in a sealed chamber, as a result of which the blood and tissues are saturated with oxygen.
Previous studies have shown that it stimulates the brain and increases cognitive abilities. Now scientists have decided to test how this affects the aging process.
The clinical study involved 35 healthy adults over the age of 64. Within three months, each of them received 60 sessions of oxygen therapy.
After analyzing the participants' blood tests taken before, after the first and second months of the trial and two weeks after its end, the scientists found a 38 percent elongation of telomeres in immune cells and a 37 percent decrease in the number of dying cells. At the same time, the patients did not change their lifestyle or diet and did not take any additional medications.
For the first time, scientists managed not only to stop, but also to reverse the aging process without the use of expensive drugs, using a relatively simple and long–known method, the only drawback of which is the need to spend several hours daily in a pressure chamber.
Telomeres are DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes. As cells divide throughout life, telomeres gradually become shorter. When the telomeres become too short, the cell can no longer reproduce and eventually dies. The accumulation of such cells incapable of further division in the body is considered one of the main causes of aging.
Therefore, scientists dealing with the issue of reversible aging are constantly looking for ways to possibly lengthen telomeres. Until now, it has been possible to do this only with the help of pharmacological drugs, since lifestyle changes, exercise and a healthy diet have little effect on the growth of telomeres.
"The significant increase in telomere length shown during and after our tests gives the scientific community an understanding that aging can really be reversed at the basic cellular and biological level," the words of the head of the study, Shai Efrati, professor of the Sackler Medical School, are quoted in a press release from Tel Aviv University.
"In just three months, we were able to achieve significant telomere elongation at a rate far exceeding any currently available drug interventions or lifestyle changes," notes another author of the article, Dr. Amir Hadanny, neurosurgeon at the Sagol Hyperbaric Medicine Center.
For many years, the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine has been researching methods based on the exposure of the body to oxygen with different concentrations under high pressure inside the pressure chamber. These methods have already proven themselves well in the treatment of strokes and brain injuries, and now – in the treatment of aging.
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