Originally published August 6 2005
Carbon monoxide is a life saver, researchers say
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
New research states that carbon monoxide, always thought to be deadly to humans, can actually help certain patients recovering from surgery.
Carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that kills thousands of Americans every year, could turn out to be a life-saver for patients recovering from organ transplants, strokes or heart attacks, according to new research from the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center.
In a recent study, U-M scientists found that inhaling small amounts of carbon monoxide for several weeks after transplant surgery prevented the development of a lethal inflammatory reaction in experimental mice receiving transplanted trachea, or windpipes.
If carbon monoxide therapy works as well in human patients as it does in mice, it could prevent an inflammatory response, called obliterative bronchiolitis, which develops in nearly 50 percent of all patients who receive a lung transplant from an unrelated donor.
Pinsky's research team focuses on the relationship between carbon monoxide and nitric oxide -- two poisonous gases produced by different types of cells in the body.
"Hmox, or heme oxygenase enzyme, is responsible for the synthesis of carbon monoxide," Pinsky explains.
"It was first identified as a heat shock protein induced under stress conditions to help protect cells from damage.
"Nitric oxide synthase, or iNOS, is the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of nitric oxide," Pinsky adds.
"We think that Hmox and carbon monoxide are the body's way of trying to limit tissue inflammation and injury induced by iNOS and nitric oxide during transplant rejection," Pinsky says.
When U-M scientists transplanted windpipes from one type of mouse into the other, genetic differences between the two strains of mice triggered transplant rejection, inflammation and significant narrowing of the airway in the transplant recipients.
But U-M scientists discovered they could rescue the mice by having them inhale CO-enriched air (100 ppm) for two weeks after transplantation, or by giving them a drug that induces high levels of Hmox expression.
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