Preliminary Findings with Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT): In-vitro activity against Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) and in-vivo effects during
experimental borrelial infection.

 
Charles S. Pavia (1) , Glenn J.Butler (24),, Kenneth Liegner (5), Zahid Niazi (3)
  
 
1- Infectious Diseases Immunodiagnostic Laboratory - New York Medical College.
2- Life Support Technologies, Inc. Hyperbaric Medical Technologies, Inc.
3- Westchester Medical Center- Department of Reconstructive Surgery.
4- The Mount Vernon Hospital - Hyperbaric Medicine Service.
5- Private Practice, Armonk, N.Y.
 

In these studies, we evaluated repeated HBOT for its ability to kill Bb in vitro, and in vivo, in a murine model of Lyme disease. Several North American tick-derived and recently obtained patient isolates were studied separately in our assay systems.

To test for in vitro susceptibility, one-half to one million Bb were cultured in a small volume
(0.1 - 0.2 ml) of BSK media using small snap-cap test tubes. With the tubes loosely capped, these cultures were then exposed daily, for one hour (for 2 consecutive days), to pure, filtered oxygen pressurized to 2-3 times normal atmospheric conditions. This was achieved using a specially constructed, miniaturized cylindrical chamber (length = 12 inches; diameter = 8 inches), equipped to accept any pressurized gas mixture through its portal opening.

After the final HBOT, all cultures received an additional 0.5 ml of BSK media (making the final volume now 0.6-0.7 ml), and the caps of the culture tubes were snapped shut. Matching control cultures received no HBOT. All cultures were incubated at 33oC for 2-3 days and were examined microscopically for live Bb at the end of the incubation period. Our results showed that 14 of 17 different strains of Bb had their growth inhibited by 33-94%, while there was little or no growth inhibition of 3 Bb strains.

 

For the in vivo studies, separate groups of C3H or CD1 mice were infected intradermally with 100,000 Bb. Two to 4 weeks later, one group of infected mice received a 1.0-1.5 hour HBO exposure, for two consecutive or alternating days. The treated mice were sacrificed one day after the last treatment, and extract cultures of their urinary bladders were prepared in BSK media.

 

It was found that no Bb grew out of 80% of these extract cultures, whereas live Bb organisms were recoverable from 90% of extract cultures prepared from matched, infected control mice not treated with HBO. These data suggest that HBOT might possibly be considered as a clinically useful form of adjunct therapy in the treatment of Lyme disease. Further research and a clinical study are planned.