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Carbon Monoxide Takes Turn As Treatment
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| Parent(s) |
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| Contributor | Jason |
| Last Edited | Jason Oct 21, 2009 02:54am |
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| Category | General |
| Author | Scott Hensley |
| News Date | Friday, October 16, 2009 02:50:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Here's an experiment you definitely should not try at home: breathing low levels of the poisonous gas carbon monoxide to fight disease.
The gas, a byproduct of some kinds of combustion, is colorless, odorless and binds to the hemoglobin in your blood so tightly that oxygen, the usual passenger on the protein, can't get on board. Breath enough carbon monoxide and you suffocate.
While high concentrations of the gas can kill you, some scientists believe a little bit, say 5 or 10 percent of the lethal level of CO might just help combat inflammation, a big problem in a wide range of diseases, the Boston Globe reports.
After experiments with rats and pigs showed small amounts of the gas reduced rejection of transplanted organs, researchers tested very low levels of the gas in 31 kidney transplant patients. Don't get your hopes too high. The results haven't been published, and the test was put on hold pending review of the data. |
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