Human brown adipose tissue (BAT) can be activated to increase glucose uptake and energy expenditure, making it a potential target for treating obesity and metabolic disease. Brown fat produces heat to help maintain your body temperature in cold conditions and its glucose uptake is ~8-fold higher than that of skeletal muscles, on average, per gram of tissue during mild cold exposure In this animal study, a 7 day course of hyperbaric oxygen therapy was able to cause an increase glucose uptake while also inducing BAT development, leading the authors to conclude that “HBO therapy as a novel method of inducing BAT development, considering its therapeutic potential for the treatment of metabolic disorders” <view study> Read Less

This exciting new study shows that Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (HBOT) may REVERSE dementia development by preventing the deposit of new amyloid plaques on the brain cells and even leading to the removal of existing ones! The 2 most common types of dementia are vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It is now believed that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can effectively help to halt both of these devastating conditions, while also being able to help reverse the cognitive decline seen in the aging process. The production of amyloid plaques are a hallmark of AD, consisting of hard, insoluble accumulations of beta amyloid proteins that clump together between the nerve cells and block their communication. Compounding this, is a reduction in oxygen (hypoxia) and reduction in blood flow to these regions inside the brain. Since the pathophysiology includes both the build up of amyloid plaques and a reduction in cerebral blood flow (CBF), the researchers designed this study to deploy a typical course of HBOT and then observe any changes in both amyloid plaque and CBF, while also documenting any clinical improvements. They did this by presenting a 2-fold study, the first being an animal study which was then followed up with a small human study. Both showed extremely promising results and confirmed previous studies for HBOT’s potential role in treating dementia and memory loss. Initial Animal Study: Mice were exposed to 20 HBOT sessions (2.0 ATA, 60 min) causing a significant:

• Reduction in amyloid burden (by reducing the volume of pre-existing plaques and attenuating the formation of new ones).
• Improvement in vascular parameters
• Improvement in behavior and performance of cognitive-based tasks.

Human follow-up study: Six elderly patients with significant memory loss were treated with 60 HBOT sessions (2.0 ATA, 90 min) and both CBF and cognitive function were evaluated and the results were as follows:

• Cerbral Blood Flow — Following HBOT, there were significant CBF increases in several brain areas, including 8 Brodmann areas.
• Cognitive function — Cognitive assessment revealed a significant increase in the global cognitive score, where memory, attention and information processing speed domain scores showed most benefits. The improvements in these scores correlated with improved short and working memory.

This study, along with previous studies by these authors, demonstrates that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be deployed at any stage of the dementia process, from early on with mild cognitive impairment, to advanced stages seen in Alzheimer's. disease. <view study> <view media Exclusive: Alzheimer’s could be ‘halted’ using oxygen therapy> Read Less

For Type 2 diabetics, platelet activation plays a key role in atherothrombosis (the leading cause of mortality in the Western world). These individuals are at higher risk for cardiovascular-related deaths from both strokes and heart attacks. The high levels of blood sugars can cause platelet aggregation and blood hyperviscosity. In this study, researchers monitored platelet aggregation during a 5 day course of hyperbaric therapy (HBOT) at 2.4 ATA and observed a significant reduction in platelet aggregation parameters. This study demonstrates that HBOT could provide diabetics another protective mechanism, as this procedure has already been shown to help sensitize insulin levels and effectively help lower blood sugar levels. Both of these mechanisms can be extremely important in helping diabetics reduce their overall cardiovascular risks and helping them to live  longer, while reducing their chance of living in a  debilitated state from some of the devastating complication of diabetes (for example strokes and heart attacks). <view study> Read Less

Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic progressive lung disease that is becoming more prevalent and poses medical challenges due to the limited therapeutic options available. The rise in the aging process along with the rise in pulmonary complications from long COVID has led to new research studies to help identify potential treatment options. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is emerging as one of them, showing good promise with clinical outcome measures. To demonstrate HBOT's influence on this disease, researchers in this study first exposed a group of rats to bleomycin (a chemotherapeutic agent that is known to cause acute pulmonary toxicity) directly into the trahea. This is to induce pulmonary fibrosis. They waited 7 days and then treated the rats with 14 days of HBOT at 2.5 ATA  for 90 minutes. The rats that were treated with this 2 week course of HBOT demonstrated a marked reduction in TGF-β, which is normally elevated and plays an active role in the development of the fibrosis.  The findings in this study support the use of HBOT as a potential "life changing" therapy for patients with pulmonary fibrosis <view study> Read Less

The emergence of cancer immunotherapy has already shown some remarkable results for the treatment of solid tumors. As good as this is, patients seem to lack the ability to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors, thus demonstrating a primary resistance to immunotherapy. By reducing tumor hypoxia (low oxygen) within solid tumors. hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can help reinvigorate anti-cancer immunity. In this study, HBOT was able to stimulate a suppressed immune system and help PD-1 Ab trigger robust cytotoxic T lymphocytes and long-lasting immunological memory to inhibit tumor relapses. Emerging research suggests that T cell-directed checkpoint antibodies such as anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) can impact innate immunity by both direct and indirect pathways, which may ultimately shape clinical efficacy. Normally, the immune system fights foreign substances like viruses and bacteria, and not your own healthy cells. Some cancer cells have high amounts of PDL1. This allows the cancer cells to "trick" the immune system, and avoid being attacked as foreign, harmful substances.. Hyperbaric Oxygen Boosts PD-1 Antibody Delivery -- "The results illustrate that HBO bolsters antitumor efficacy of PD-1 Ab, and the HBO-PD-1 Ab combination is a promising stroma-rich solid tumors' treatment in the clinic" <view study> Read Less