In a world first, the length of human telomeres in living subjects has been increased in a prospective clinical trial as part of a broader study of aging. This was accomplished with the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
Telomeres place a limit on the number of times cells can be replicated, shortening by 20-40 bases every year and are thought to be one of the causes of aging as shorter telomeres are related to greater vulnerability to disease. Telomere length reduction can be slowed with diet and exercise, but not increased.
The trial recruited 35 participants aged over 63, who did not undergo diet or lifestyle changes. Each patient received 60 HBOT sessions over 90 days. The telomere length of T and B cells significantly increased by over 20%. B cells showed the greatest lengthening at 36.7% post-HBOT.
“After dedicating our HBOT research to exploring its impact on the areas of brain functionality and age related cognitive decline, we have now uncovered for the first time in humans HBOT’s biological effects at the cellular level in healthy aging adults,” said Prof Shai Efrati of the Faculty of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University. “Since telomere shortening is considered the ‘Holy Grail’ of the biology of aging, many pharmacological and environmental interventions are being extensively explored in the hopes of enabling telomere elongation. The significant improvement of telomere length shown during and after these unique HBOT protocols provides the scientific community with a new foundation of understanding that aging can, indeed, be targeted and reversed at the basic cellular-biological level.”
Source: The Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research via PRNewswire
