Medical Ozone

Medical Ozone

The gaseous substance we call medical ozone is actually a mixture of primarily pure oxygen (95.0 to 99.5%) and a small amount of ozone (0.5-5.0%). It is well accepted that many diseases, whether acute or chronic, are characterized by free radical oxidant stress, causing patients to suffer from poor energy production and fatigue. Consequently, all patients with chronic oxidant stress are observed to improve when oxidant therapy is administered.

about ozone
Medical Ozone
Free Radical Production

Medical Ozone and
Free Radical Production

Most biological molecules have two electrons in their outer orbit and are stable. Free radicals are substances that contain one electron in the outer orbit and are unstable and reactive. There are three ways a free radical can react with other chemicals. It can extract an electron from another molecule (be reduced), it can react with another free radical forming a stable covalent bond, or it can donate its electron to another molecule (become oxidized).

As a consequence, the new molecules formed in turn become free radicals and must in turn go about extracting or sharing electrons, thus forming still more free radicals. These reactions are enhanced by ions of iron, cobalt, copper and nickel (commonly increased for instance in the haemolysis of blood).

Sources of free radicals are viruses, bacteria, parasites, normal respiration and metabolism, exposure to pollutants, exposure to the sun, x-rays, injury, and stress to name a few. Naturally occurring free radicals are nitric oxide (NO), hydroxyl ions (OH-), and the oxygen anion (O-), also known as singlet oxygen, the latter resulting from the breakdown of the ozone molecule.

The site of free radical production takes place at the mitochondrial level from either ischemia (less O2) or excessive functional demand on the cells (again poor oxygen utilization).

When medical ozone enters the water fraction of plasma, its first order of preference is to attack lipids, especially polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA’s). Second it is neutralized by antioxidants such as vitamin E, C, glutathione, bilirubin, cysteine rich proteins and carbohydrates. PUFA’s are found in cell walls and membranes, lipoproteins, triglycerides, and chylomicrons. As a result of this ozone-lipid reaction, ozonides, peroxides, aldehydes, and other free radicals are formed.

These free radicals damage cells by literally punching holes in them (damaging the cell membrane), and damaging DNA.

not a free radical itself

Medical ozone

Medical ozone, not a free radical itself, does not cause significant free radical damage when introduced into the body because:

Tissue

Medical Ozone is introduced in small quantities relative to the amount of tissues present in the body (blood is considered a tissue).

1

Reactions

Immediately upon entering the body, ozone reacts with tissue chemicals such as PUFA’s, vitamin C, glutathione, etc mentioned above.

2

Not Directly

Medical Ozone is never administered directly into the bloodstream.

3

The Byproducts

The byproducts of ozone-tissue chemical reactions are readily metabolized by the liver and kidneys. The ozonides and peroxides formed by ozone-lipid contact are not toxic as is ozone when directly contacting tissues. It is for this reason that medial ozone bubbled through olive oil by a diffuser can be used in inhalation therapy without causing damage to the respiratory system.

4

5

Magnetic Potential

As mentioned above, medical ozone itself is not a free radical, for it has paired electrons in its outer orbit. It is, like water, a magnetic dipolar molecule, represented by the chemical picture O=O-O, involving an ionic bond. The magnetic potential of a dipolar molecule prevents the formation of free radical in aqueous environments of pH less than 8, a pH not found in the body.

However, as the ozone molecule reacts with substances in the body, such as reduced glutathione, it gives rise to an unstable O3 molecule which ultimately results in the generation of a hydroxyl radical, the most potent oxidant known in chemistry.

Beginnings in Medicine

Effects of Introducing Medical Ozone into Biological Systems

Paracelsus was the first physician to observe that like cures like. For example, vaccines (the injection of microbes) kill microbes by stimulating a process that allows the body to eradicate the offending microbes. And so it is with medical ozone.

The Arndt-Schultz phenomenon states that a substance is stimulating in a small dose, modulating in a larger one, and suppressive in a still larger dose. And again, so it is with medical ozone.

Finally, the state of free radical oxidant stress is caused by a lack of free radical buffering ability that is really the cause of the build-up of excess free radicals. Medical Ozone “turns on” the free radical buffering systems and remedies this problem.

When we take these three statements together, we find that ozone therapy offers a very effective solution to health problems. When correct doses of medical ozone are given, it stimulates free radical buffering systems, it can kill bacteria (bactericidal), viruses(virostatic), fungus(fungicidal), and parasites(parasiticidal), and it stimulates the production of all the cytokine systems of the body, specifically interleukin -2 ( secreted by T helper cells), interferon, and tumour necrosis factor, and stimulates the production of white blood cells. Thus, it eliminates microbes by direct kill and indirectly as in the vaccine example.

In a paper published in early 2004 in the journal “Science”, a group of researchers from Scripps Institute in San Diego, California, has demonstrated that all antibodies appear to make medical ozone.

In addition to being valuable in antimicrobial therapy, medical ozone breaks down petrochemicals, increases the flexibility and elasticity of red blood cells, and oxidizes arterial plaque. Very importantly, it increases the red blood cell enzyme 2, 3 DPG, which catalyzes the release of oxygen from red blood cells into tissues, and very importantly, accelerates the Krebs or citric acid cycle.