Mechanism of hyperbaric oxygen on ischemic tissue healing

METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent creation of a previously validated ischemic flap. Four groups underwent daily treatment: HBO (90 minutes, 2.4 atm); HBO/NAC (HBO plus 150mg/kg NAC intraperitoneal); NAC (150mg/kg NAC); Control (neither HBO nor NAC). Wound area, protein expression by immunohistochemistry, ELISA, and western blotting, and cell proliferation by DNA dot-blotting were analyzed at days 3, 7, and 14 (n 6 per group).