ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Translational Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1595568
A Clinical Study on Ozone Autohemotherapy for the Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke
Provisionally accepted
- The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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### BackgroundOzonated autohemotherapy, a treatment involving contact between medical ozone and blood followed by reinfusion, alleviates oxidative stress damage, reduces neuroexcitotoxicity, and mitigates cellular edema and inflammation. Despite reports of its use in treating cerebral infarction, its efficacy and mechanisms remain unclear. This study measured neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S100β protein, markers of neuronal damage.### MethodsIn a randomized controlled trial with 62 acute cerebral infarction patients, three groups were studied: control, oxygen placebo, and ozone therapy. The 5-day intervention began within 24 hours of symptom onset. Inclusion criteria were acute cerebral infarction diagnosis, age >18 years, and NIHSS score 4–15. Exclusion criteria included other neurological disorders, severe infectious diseases, and contraindications for ozone therapy. Efficacy was evaluated through neurological function scoring, motor function scoring, cognitive scoring, and detection of NSE and S100β protein. Oxidative stress-related indicators and the genes HIF-1 and Nrf-2 were also assessed to explore the mechanism of ozonated autohemotherapy.### ResultsOzonated autohemotherapy significantly improved acute cerebral infarction prognosis, reducing NIHSS scores by 30%, increasing Barthel Index scores by 25%, and improving MoCA scores by 20% compared to the control group. NSE and S100β protein levels decreased by 25% and 30%, respectively. In the ozone treatment group, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels decreased, while glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels increased. HIF-1 and Nrf-2 levels were elevated compared to before treatment. The therapy did not increase the risk of heart, liver, or kidney damage.### ConclusionThe findings suggest that ozone may improve oxidative stress by regulating HIF-1 and Nrf-2, thereby reducing oxidative stress response and inflammatory damage caused by ischemia in acute cerebral infarction, improving neurological function and prognosis. The treatment is safe in the short term, but long-term safety requires further research.
Keywords: Ozonated autohemotherapy, Acute cerebral infarction, Oxidative stress damage, ozone oxidative preconditioning, hypoxia-inducible factor
Received: 18 Mar 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cheng, Lu, Du, Zhuang and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Helen Cheng, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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