Multiple Sclerosis and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS DISEASE MODELS
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS DISEASE MODELS
MS symptoms often mirror those of carbon monoxide poisoning, where the body tissues receive inadequate oxygen for functioning because CO bonds more tightly to cell oxygen receptors that ambient air oxygen. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an FDA-approved treatment for acute CO poisoning because it is the only known way of forcing CO out of the tissues so they can again absorb the required oxygen.
When blood carries oxygen throughout the body, 98 percent of the oxygen delivered to the cells is carried by the red blood platelets. Oxygen can only reach a short distance from the capillaries to adjacent tissue, including that in the extremely oxygen dependent central nervous system. Normal sea-level air has about 20 percent oxygen. HBOT supplies 100 percent oxygen at increased pressure. This increases oxygen levels in the body tissues up to 1000 percent. With hyperbaric oxygen, blood plasma, the liquid component of the blood, also becomes saturated with oxygen. Blood plasma moves outside the blood vessels, carrying oxygen far more deeply into the tissues, delivering it where the red blood cells cannot reach.
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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an FDA-approved treatment for acute CO poisoning because it forces CO out of the tissues so they can again absorb the required oxygen. HBOT supplies 100 percent oxygen at increased pressure, saturating both the hemoglobin (red blood cells) as well as the blood plasma (liquid portion of the blood), and increasing body tissue oxygen levels up to 1000 percent. Blood plasma moves outside the blood vessels, carrying oxygen far more deeply into the tissues, delivering it where the red blood cells cannot reach. |
A theory in 1863 proposed that MS is caused by failure of the lungs to properly filter out small globules of fat which then travel to the brain. In 1973, Dr. Phillip James of England pioneered MS research when he noted that scuba divers suffering the “bends” from too rapid decompression had central nervous system (CNS) lesions similar to those found in MS patients. Studies with rodents showed that injections of microbubbles of air or fat (emboli) into the carotid arteries (which supply blood to the brain) damaged the blood brain barrier and allowed blood proteins to cross over into the neural tissue.
Blood proteins are extremely damaging to brain tissue, causing inflammation and destroying nerve conductivity. These bubbles of air or fat also impair blood flow, restricting oxygen delivery, and compromising the body's ability to protect the CNS. James revived the theory that MS symptoms could result from “subacute fat embolism with damage to the blood-brain barrier” caused by the body's inflammatory response. This results in what is referred to as ‘perivenous syndrome,' damage which follows the long, draining veins of the cerebral medulla and spinal cord. These veins have minimal capillary support.
When the low blood oxygen levels are further reduced by embolic events, “tissue oxygen may fall to critically low levels.” Tissue swelling would further restrict oxygen and nutrient flow. A build-up of metabolic wastes inhibits proper cell metabolism (which requires oxygen) and results in cell dysfunction, demyelination, and damage to the axons, the nerve bundles responsible for sensory, motor, and cognitive signal transmission. MRI scans have shown the presence of lactic acid in early MS lesions.
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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an FDA-approved treatment for decompression sickness. It forces nitrogen to be resorbed into the blood so it can be eliminated from the body. |
Lactic acid builds up in muscle tissue during exercise when there is not enough oxygen to support muscle cell metabolism and the circulatory system cannot remove the anaerobic wastes fast enough. This is what causes the pain and fatigue when a person exercises more than they are used to. If the increased activity level is repeated over a long period of time, the body builds new capillaries into the muscle tissue to deliver the required oxygen.
After the tissue is re-oxygenated, another kind of damage can occur—reperfusion injury with increased capillary “leakage” and more swelling. This is the swelling that can occur when muscles are exercised far beyond what they are used to.
Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
MS research is compromised by the absence of an early, conclusively diagnostic test, difficulties in assessing improvement, and the lack of an effective animal model. The oft-referenced EAE model is not completely consistent with MS [in EAE, myelin destruction follows lymphocyte infiltration—in MS, phagocyte (the blood cells which clean up damaged or alien tissue) infiltration follows myelin breakdown. (Lymphocytes and phagocytes are part of the body's immune defense system.)]