Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Could Reverse Ageing in Humans, Israeli Scientists Claim

The anti-ageing industry, both cosmetic and medical, is worth billions of dollars with a plethora of offerings. Now there might be a new treatment in the mix using hyperbaric oxygen which would reduce cell-ageing.

Humans have been trying their best to delay or avoid this natural cycle of life. To help this cause, Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Shamir Medical Center in Israel conducted a study where they discovered hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOT) in healthy ageing adults can help stop the ageing of blood cells and may even reverse the ageing process. They say that adult blood cells may actually reverse-age and become younger.

There are two major processes that contribute to ageing. First, the telomeres, which are protective regions at the end of every chromosome, start to shorten. Second, old and malfunctioning cells accumulate in the body.

The team concocted a unique system of treatment where they used high-pressure oxygen in a pressure chamber. They found that both of the above processes could be influenced by this protocol.

A study of immune cells from volunteers revealed a lengthening of up to 38% of the telomeres and consequently a decline of 37% in the number of senescent cells. According to Medical Dialogues, this study is a part of a research program in Israel which wants to prove ageing as a reversible process.

“For many years our team has been engaged in hyperbaric research and therapy – treatments based on protocols of exposure to high-pressure oxygen at various concentrations inside a pressure chamber,” said professor Shai Efrati, lead author.

Around 35 normally healthy adults participated in this study, all above 64 years of age. They received a sequence of 60 hyperbaric sessions over a period of 90 days.

According to Efrati, telomere shortening is the holy grail of ageing in Biology; a process successfully reversed in this study. He says all pharmaceuticals and research laboratories across the globe are striving to find a way to elongate telomeres which their HBOT protocol could do.

Lifestyle and exercise have been known to impact telomere shortening to a limit. However, this study impacted elongation only after three months of HBOT exposure. The team is confident this is the first step towards reversing cellular ageing in humans. The paper has been published in the journal Aging.