The effect of autohaemotherapy with different ozone concentrations on the oxidant/antioxidant status and DNA integrity of baboons

Abstract

Ozone has unique biological properties that are applied in various medical fields. Ozone therapy is widely used to treat a number of medical conditions and although it has yielded very promising beneficial results, there are still skepticism and questions regarding its safety and effectiveness. To shed some light on these issues, we determined the effect of O3-AHT using an O2/O3 gas mixture containing 20 and 40 μg/ml O3 on the antioxidant status and DNA integrity in baboons. We used six healthy baboons and treated them with both concentrations approximately a month apart. The baboons were anesthetized with intramuscular ketamin hydrochloride (±10mg/kg) to enable handling and blood sample collection. Five percent blood of a baboon was collected and exposed to ozone ex vivo for 20 min. Thereafter it was reinfused into the animals. Blood samples were taken before treatment and again after 4, 24 and 48 hours following reinfusion of the ozonated blood. I measured the ORAC, FRAP, GSHt and the SOD activity to asses the antioxidant status. DNA damage and repair was determined using single cell gel electrophoreses (comet assay) on lymphocytes. There was a slightly negative effect on the antioxidant status after O3-AHT, but the body was able to restore it to pretreatment levels. The DNA integrity was minimally affected by O3-AHT. There was no increase in DNA damage following O3-AHT with 40 μg/ml. A significant increase in DNA damage occurred 24 hours following O3- AHT with 20 μg/ml. This increase can possibly be due to an accumulative effect of the ketamin and not due to O3-AHT. The DNA repair capacity was slightly decreased after ozone therapy but the decrease was not significant. From our results it is clear that O3-AHT had no adverse affect on the antioxidant status of the baboons and the DNA integrity of their lymphocytes. The results also indicate that 40 μg/ml O3 is a safe concentration to use for O3-AHT since its effects are similar to that of a O2/O3 gas mixture containing 80 μg/ml O3.