What Researchers Did
Researchers investigated whether exposure to hyperbaric oxygen therapy could increase the number of stem cells circulating in the bloodstream and if this process was dependent on nitric oxide.
What They Found
They observed that a single hyperbaric oxygen treatment doubled circulating CD34+ cells in humans, and a course of 20 treatments increased them eightfold. In mice, hyperbaric oxygen increased circulating stem cell factor by 50% and CD34+ cells by 3.4-fold, with bone marrow nitric oxide concentration increasing by 1,008 +/- 255 nM. Stem cell mobilization did not occur in mice lacking endothelial nitric oxide synthase, indicating a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
A limitation of this study is that much of the detailed mechanistic work was conducted in animal models, and the clinical implications for human patients require further investigation.