Hyperbaric oxygen improves healing in experimental rat colitis.

This study was designed to investigate therapeutic effects of hyperbaric oxygen on experimentally induced colitis in rats by assessing oxidative tissue damage, neutrophil accumulation and histological changes. Six groups of animals were used. No procedures were done in the sham group. In the vehicle group, 50% ethanol-induced colitis, and in four other groups, 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid-induced colonic inflammation was achieved. In acute and chronic colitis non-treatment groups, no other procedure was done. In acute and chronic colitis hyperbaric oxygen treatment groups, rats underwent hyperbaric oxygen treatment for two or fourteen days. On the third and fifteenth days respectively tissue and blood samples were taken for microscopic and macroscopic damage assessment, myeloperoxidase activity and serum carbonyl content measurements. There was significant colonic tissue damage in non-treatment groups at 48 hours and 14 days. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment ameliorated the macroscopic damage significantly in chronic colitis. Amelioration of microscopic changes was not significant in each hyperbaric oxygen-treated group. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment significantly reduced tissue myeloperoxidase activity in acute colitis and decreased plasma carbonyl content in chronic colitis. In the present study, hyperbaric oxygen treatment significantly ameliorated trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid-induced chronic colitis in rats.

The effect of hyperbaric oxygen treatment on the inflammatory changes caused by intraperitoneal meconium.

Exposure of the peritoneal cavity to meconium causes a marked inflammatory response. The effect of intraperitoneal meconium on intestinal morphology and plasma nitrite and nitrate (NO2(-) + NO3(-)) levels and how this inflammatory process is influenced by hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment were investigated in this study. The purpose was to determine whether HBO treatment could be considered a useful adjunct in the resuscitative treatment of severely ill patients admitted with meconium peritonitis (MP). Rats were divided into three groups. Human meconium (MP group, n=10) and sterile saline (control group, n=10) were injected intraperitoneally for 3 days. The procedure for meconium injection was combined with HBO treatment for the HBO group (n=10). HBO was administered for 7 days. In all groups, peritoneal swap cultures, plasma NO2(-) + NO3(-) levels, intestinal diameters, and macroscopic and microscopic changes in the intestine were determined on the 8th day. Bacterial growth was not detected in the peritoneal swap cultures. There was a significant difference in NO2(-) + NO3(-) levels between the MP and HBO groups ( P<0.05), between the MP and control groups ( P<0.01), and between the HBO and control groups ( P<0.05). Thin fibrinous adhesions in both the MP and HBO groups, and thickened and dilated intestinal loops in the MP group were observed macroscopically. The intestinal diameter in the MP group was significantly greater than in the HBO and control groups. The only microscopic difference was seen in the serosal layer. Compared with the animals in the control and HBO groups, the intestine of the rats in the MP group showed prominent serosal thickening, edema, capillary proliferation and cellular infiltration. The ameliorated inflammatory changes and decreased dilatation of the intestine accompanied by a significant decrease in NO2(-) + NO3(-) levels suggest that as an adjunctive treatment, HBO may have a beneficial effect in the resuscitative treatment of meconium peritonitis.

Fournier's disease: adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen therapy to classic therapy.

Fournier's disease is a very rare and highly fatal necrotizing fasciitis of genital and perineal tissues. Conventional treatment of Fournier's disease includes surgical debridement and antibiotic therapy. We describe a case of Fournier's disease where we added hyperbaric oxygen therapy to the conventional treatment regimen.

Hyperbaric oxygen prevents bacterial translocation in rats with obstructive jaundice.

This study was designed to demonstrate bacterial translocation following bile duct ligation and investigate preventive effects of hyperbaric oxygen on obstructive jaundice-related bacterial translocation in an animal model. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment significantly reduced the endogenous colony counts in distal ileum of normal rats both in the short (two days) and long (seven days) term. Endogenous bacteria in distal ileum significantly increased in bile duct ligated rats in the short and long term, and presence of bacterial translocation was proven by bacterial growth in mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, spleen, and blood. Short- and long-term hyperbaric oxygen treatments significantly reduced the intestinal colony counts and prevented the bacterial translocation almost completely in rats with bile duct ligation. It is concluded that obstructive jaundice causes bacterial overgrowth and translocation, and hyperbaric oxygen treatment can prevent both bacterial overgrowth and translocation effectively.