The Therapeutic Effect And Mechanism Of Hyperbaric Oxygen Intervention For Children With Autism And Animal Models

Objective To explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of hyperbaric oxygen intervention for children with autism and animal models in order to provide theoretical evidence for the study of etiology and pathogenesis of autism and the therapeutic schedule.Methods A total of68children with autism were from the waiting room of child health care department in the affiliated hospital of medical collage, Qingdao University. The children’s general conditions, autism behavior characteristics and family environment characteristics were investigated by self-made questionnaires, autism behavior checklist(ABC) and Family Environment Scale-Chinese Version(FES-CV) filled in by their caregivers. The subjects to study were divided randomly into hyperbaric oxygen combined with rehabilitation training group and simple rehabilitation training group. Case-control study was conducted to study the therapeutic effect of hyperbaric oxygen intervention for children with autism. Animal model of autism was obtained in offspring of the Wistar rats that received a single intraperitoneal injection of sodium valproate at the12.5day after pregnancy, the learning and memory of the autism model rats were evaluated by the Y electricity maze test before and after the hyperbaric oxygen intervention. Using the immunohistochemistry methods and image analysis to examine the number of BDNF、NF-kB、PV neurons in hippocampal CA1region of the autism model rats divided by different hyperbaric oxygen intervention; observing the autism model rats’ hippocampal CA1region pyramidal cell and the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on hippocampal CA1region pyramidal cell in autism model rats after HE staning.Results1.The total score of ABC and the scores of communicative action and independent living ability of the hyperbaric oxygen combined with rehabilitation training group were lower than those of the simple rehabilitation training group, with statistically differences between them (54.23±14.63vs63.42±20.15, t=-2.031P=0.047;13.07±4.98vs16.23±6.20, t=-2.190P=0.032;10.10±4.18vs13.87±5.09, t=-3.161P=0.002); the cohesion and expressiveness scores of the hyperbaric oxygen combined with rehabilitation training group were higher than those of the rehabilitation training group, with statistically differences between them (7.90±0.66vs7.19±1.62, t=2.215P=0.031;5.97±1.35vs5.06±1.46, t=2.503P=0.015).2. The differences of the trying times and the memory times by the Y electricity maze test, the hyperbaric oxygen group(31.54±0.88vs30.69±0.63, t=5.500P=0.001;2.85±0.69vs3.38±0.65,t=-2.214P=0.047) and the normobaric hyperoxia group(31.54±0.97vs31.15±0.99, t=2.739P=0.018;2.69±0.48vs3.00±0.58, t=-2.309P=0.040) after treatment from before treatment were both of statistical significance.3. After the intervention of hyperbaric oxygen, the numbers of BDNF, NF-kB and PV positive neurons were reduced in the hippocampal CA1region of the autism model rats, with statistically differences between them. The morphology of pyramidal cells in hippocampal CA1region showed that the pyramidal cells had apoptosised, the number of apoptotic cells reduced and the number of normal form cells increased after the hyperbaric oxygen intervention.Conclusions The therapeutic effect of the hyperbaric oxygen combined with rehabilitation training group was better than that of the rehabilitation training group. The VPA autism rats model was established successfully, the learning and memory abilities were improved after the hyperbaric oxygen intervention. The numbers of BDNF, NF-kB and PV positive neurons were increased in the hippocampal CA1region of the autism model rats than those of the normal control rats. This showed the pathogenesis of autism may be connected with the expression level of BDNF, NF-kB and PV in the hiooocampal CA1region. After the the intervention of hyperbaric oxygen the expression level of BDNF, NF-kB and PV in the hiooocampal CA1region dropped; the pyramidal cells were proliferated and the number of apoptotie cell was reduced. This may be the mechanism of hyperbaric oxygen intervention for children with autism and animal model.