Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) in Trauma and Disease

Stanley W. Jacob was a professor emeritus of surgery at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. He received his MD from Ohio State University and completed his surgical training at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He was a chief resident in surgery at Harvard Surgical Services and an instructor in surgery at Harvard School of Medicine before he was appointed to the faculty at Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Jacob discovered the medicinal properties of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). This discovery led to more than 20,000 publications in such areas as pain, inflammation, scleroderma, interstitial cystitis, arthritis, resistant tuberculosis, cancer, cryobiology, free radicals, stroke, and neuroprotection. Dr. Jacob received many honors during his career and also authored a dozen medical textbooks and more than 170 peer-reviewed articles.

Jack C. de la Torre is an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Texas in Austin.He began his work on dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in the early 1970s shortly after his appointment as assistant professor in neurosurgery at the University of Chicago. Dr. de la Torre’s research revealed DMSO’s ability to quickly reduce intracranial pressure, restore cerebral blood flow, and stabilize respiration in nonhuman primates sustaining lethal traumatic brain injuries. For the next eight years, he extended his brain trauma findings and showed that intravenous administration of DMSO was effective in treating primary and secondary damage following experimental ischemic stroke and spinal cord trauma. Dr. de la Torre has published more than 180 peer-reviewed research articles and written or edited a dozen medical texts on pathology, neurotransmitters, and Alzheimer’s disease.