Suppressive effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on immune responses of normal and autoimmune mice

We studied the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) on immune responses in normal and autoimmune mice. Mice were exposed to HBO in an animal chamber at a pressure of 252.5 kPa for 1 h and once a day for 5 days. The immunization of C3H/He mice with sheep erythrocytes induced marked anti-sheep erythrocyte antibody response on day 7. However, this response was markedly suppressed in HBO-treated mice. The suppression is dependent on the duration of HBO and it works on the early and the late stage of antibody responses. HBO suppresses the development of both sheep erythrocyte-specific B cells and helper T cells after the immunization. Then, we tried to expose autoimmune mice to HBO. Spontaneous immunoglobulin production of NZB and MRL/lpr spleen cells was also significantly suppressed by HBO. Furthermore, long term HBO exposure results in the suppression of the development of autoimmune symptoms such as proteinuria, facial erythema and lymphadenopathy in MRL/lpr mice. All these results suggest that HBO is applicable for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.