Obesity and diabetes are both prevalent and rapidly increasing in the aging population, leading to impairment in cardiac function. In this study, rats were given a chemical compound (D-Galactose) to accelerate the aging process and produce cardiac dysfunction. The rats were pre-diabetic and were given hyperbaric oxygen therapy 60 minutes 2.0 ATA daily. With the addition of hyperbaric therapy, the rats were able to show improvements in cardiac function, along with many other benefits.
Here are the authors’ conclusions for this study: “Our results indicated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) could restore the normal cardiac function in either aging induced by D-gal rats or high-fat diet induced pre-diabetic rats. Mechanistically, HBOT effectively alleviated the cardiac dysfunction in aging pre-diabetic rats through decreased oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, dysfunctional mitochondria, metabolic and autophagic impairments. Thus, HBOT could be a potential therapeutic intervention in aging pre-diabetic people with impaired cardiac function” <view study>