The authors tried to elucidate the therapeutic effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on the experimental infection of the anaerobic pathogens, using mice and rabbits as experimental animals.
1) Cl. novyi was rather resistant to the action of oxygen at high pressure. It was presumably due to the spore formed.
2) In order to prevent the death of the mice inoculated with Cl. novyi, the animals should be repeatedly exposed to the oxygen at moderate pressure. The excessive oxygenation was toxic to the animals, rendering them less resistant to the infection.
3) Toxin of Cl. novyi was not decomposed by hyperbaric oxygenation. It has also no effect on the detoxication process of the organisms or on the toxin neutralization in vitro and in vivo.
4) In case of gas gangrene hyperbaric oxygenation therapy should be combined with antitoxin treatment, as the former suppresses the growth of pathogens and the latter neutralizes toxin produced.
5) In the experiment with with rabbit, repeated hyperbaric oxygenation was proved markedly effective to the infection with Cl. norvyi, but less effective to Cl. tetani.
In the latter case, the excessive oxygenation was unfavorable to the infected animals.
