“Oxyplastogen”: Investigating biological mechanisms and potential applications for hyperbaric Induced neuroplasticity, a narrative review

Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or brain plasticity, is the brain’s ability to reorganise, restructure, adapt and create new connections in response to stimuli from the environment. This plays a large role in the treatment, rehabilitation and management of brain pathologies, injuries and diseases as well as creating an optimised brain state for learning. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a treatment where the patient is placed into a chamber that is pressurized to a pressure greater than 1 atmosphere of absolute pressure (ATA) whilst breathing 100% medical grade oxygen. This leads to large amounts of oxygen dissolving in the plasma creating a substantial increase in cellular oxygen. This review search the online databases such as MEDLINE, PubMed and the Cochrane library for studies reporting HBOT having a neuroplastic effect and the pathologies/injuries it was used for. Analysis of these studies suggest how HBOT can create a favourable environment for neuroplasticity to take place, the biological mechanisms on how this is achieved, the literature on its potential applications to brain disorders and the literature around dosages and protocols. This review will inform future research looking at further understanding the neuroplasticity biological processes and optimising the dose and protocol of HBOT to achieve optimum neuroplasticity for specific conditions as well as looking at therapeutic synergy with other modalities such as psychological therapies. To the authors knowledge this is the first review to exclusively look at HBOT and neuroplasticity which will help guide further research on the subject. https://therapeuticsciencesjournal.org/publications/ols/products/xn--oxyplastogen-investigating-biological-mechanisms-and-potential-applications-for-hyperbaric-induced-neuroplasticity-a-narrative-review-hn21gje