Clinical studies are supporting hyperbaric oxygen therapy use for anti-aging therapy
Various mechanisms of HBOT are shown to enhance physical performance and interact at a cellular level
Fu Q, Duan R, Sun Y, Li Q. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for healthy aging: From mechanisms to therapeutics. Redox Biol. 2022 Jul;53:102352. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2022.102352. Epub 2022 May 27. PMID: 35649312; PMCID: PMC9156818. Report that: The mechanisms by which HBOT promotes healthy aging. HBOT can cause a wide range of cellular, biochemical and physiological changes. The proven biological mechanisms by which HBOT may promote healthy aging can be summarized into five categories.
HBOT enhances angiogenesis mainly by increasing the expression of HIF-1α and a series of angiogenic markers.
HBOT reduces inflammation by regulating the number and activity of extensive inflammatory cell types such as neutrophils, lymphocytes, astrocytes and microglia. At the molecular level, HBOT can inhibit pro-inflammatory factors while promoting anti-inflammatory factors.
HBOT enhances antioxidant defenses by modulating the balance between free radicals and scavengers. The process is closely correlated with the regulation of mitochondrial function.
HBOT interferes with the detrimental effects of cellular senescence, manifested by cell cycle re-entry and attenuation of senescence markers such as p16/p21/p53, SA-β-gal, lipofuscin and the SASP. HBOT also plays a role in inhibiting telomere shortening, one of the major stimuli of cellular senescence.
HBOT increases the number of circulating stem cells by stimulating stem cell mobilization, and changes stem cell properties by promoting proliferation and differentiation
Study: Physical enhancement of older adults using hyperbaric oxygen: a randomized controlled trial
Conclusion: The findings of the study indicate that HBOT has the potential to improve physical performance in aging adults. The enhancements observed encompass improvements in key factors including VO2Max, and VO2VT1. An important mechanism contributing to these improvements is the heightened cardiac perfusion induced by HBOT.
Study: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases telomere length and decreases immunosenescence in isolated blood cells: a prospective trial
Conclusions: Aging is characterized by the progressive loss of physiological capacity. At the cellular level, two key hallmarks of the aging process include telomere length (TL) shortening and cellular senescence. The study indicates that HBOT may induce significant senolytic effects including significantly increasing telomere length and clearance of senescent cells in the aging populations
Cognitive enhancement of healthy older adults using hyperbaric oxygen: a randomized controlled trial
Conclusions: HBOT was shown to induce cognitive enhancements in healthy aging adults via mechanisms involving regional changes in CBF. The main improvements include attention, information processing speed and executive functions, which normally decline with aging
Study: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for healthy aging: From mechanisms to therapeutics
Conclusions: The effects of HBOT on aging in different organs or tissues. In pre-clinical and clinical investigations, HBOT has shown great potential in improving cognition, inhibiting intrinsic skin aging and photoaging, improving glucose metabolism (by increasing thermogenesis and volume of brown adipose tissue and promoting oxidative ability of skeletal muscle), preventing bone and muscle loss, and enhancing myocardial and pulmonary function.