Ozone therapies in veterinary medicine: mechanisms of action, clinical applications, and evidence-based perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70577/cy2a8y73Keywords:
Ozone; Complementary Therapies; Veterinary Medicine; Oxidative Stress; Wound Healing; Bovine Mastitis; NF-E2-Related Factor 2.Abstract
Ozone therapy entered veterinary practice by an atypical route: not from controlled trials into the clinic, but from human medicine and empirical experience into the small-animal consulting room, the equine barn, and the dairy unit. That trajectory accounts for both its rapid diffusion and the fragility of its evidence base. To critically synthesize the 2021–2025 literature on mechanisms of action, routes of administration, documented clinical applications, and safety profile of ozone therapies in domestic species, delineating what is supported by data and what remains biological plausibility. Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed/MEDLINE, SciELO, CABI Abstracts, and Google Scholar were queried with Boolean equations combining intervention descriptors (ozone, ozone therapy, ozonated oil, major autohemotherapy) with population descriptors (dog, cat, horse, cattle, veterinary) and clinical outcome terms, in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The mechanistic substrate Nrf2/Keap1/ARE activation by lipid peroxides, cytokine modulation, increased 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, germicidal action through envelope oxidation rests on solid experimental grounding, largely human or murine. Veterinary clinical evidence is asymmetric: consistent in dentistry, with controlled and randomized designs; reasonable in cutaneous wounds and equine endometritis; preliminary in canine mammary oncology; and virtually absent in canine osteoarthritis, laminitis, leishmaniosis, and babesiosis. Protocol heterogeneity precludes meta-analysis. Medical ozone has a coherent mechanism and a wide safety margin within defined ranges, yet its veterinary clinical translation rests on underpowered studies. It belongs as an adjuvant with narrow indications pending multicentre trials with validated outcomes
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