Oxygen-ozone therapy: paradoxical stimulation of ozone

Abstract

After several years of scientific research and accurate clinical practice, the oxygen-ozone therapy continues to represent a method full of prospects and new opportunities. On this basis we present an updated review on basic mechanisms through which the ozone acts. Ozone, a molecule notable for its heterodoxy and atypicalness, has been regarded with suspicious for a long time since it was a possible generator of free radicals and correlated pathologies, but it is important distinguishing between the oxidative damage from free radicals, characterized by irreversible chemical modifications of the molecular target, and the physiological effects from free radicals (redox signaling), characterized on the other hand, by reversible chemical and selective alterations, which are potentially suitable to become an active part in the various metabolic regulation mechanisms, with positive effects on several pathologies.