Foam with carbon monoxide reduced inflammation
(ORDO NEWS) — Carbon monoxide CO is notorious for being dangerous, coming from a variety of sources, and causing severe poisoning even in small doses.
However, this compound can be used for treatment as an anti-inflammatory and healing agent, including delivery to target tissues in a foam material. It is this approach that the authors of the new article borrowed from molecular cuisine.
It’s no secret that carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide, CO) is dangerous. It is formed during incomplete combustion, the operation of engines, and even in a lit cigarette. This small molecule binds tightly to hemoglobin and is difficult to separate from it, which greatly interferes with the delivery of oxygen to the tissues.
However, CO also has other properties that are directly opposite. Physicians can use carbon monoxide to alter the immune response, including suppressing inflammation and even enhancing tissue regeneration.
Due to this, CO reduces the risk of rejection of transplanted organs, slows down the growth of tumors and reduces the level of damage caused by radiation. It turns out that CO can become the basis for the treatment of serious diseases of the lungs, intestines – and not only.
An international team of researchers has published a new article in Science Translational Medicine . It describes a technique that allows you to use the valuable properties of CO and avoid its toxic effects.
The authors propose to use a special means of delivery – foams, porous materials trapping gaseous substances (gase-entrapping materials, GEM).
Scientists were inspired by an example of a fashionable trend in modern cooking – the so-called molecular cuisine.
In it, among other things, foams obtained by strong grinding and foaming with gas are actively used. In this way, you can give an unusual structure and delicate taste to a wide variety of products – from coffee to meat and even mushrooms.
The researchers plan to treat people with colitis and other diseases using a low-density carbon monoxide-laden carrier foam. In the meantime, they have successfully conducted preclinical studies – on mice with inflammation of the colon and acute liver failure.
“The possibility of targeted gas delivery could change the way we think about therapy in general. Usually gas is not considered as an oral (or rectal) agent, in which case we have an impressive new approach that will help our patients, ” says Giovanni Traverso, co-author of the new publication and an employee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( USA).
Scientists emphasize that the same technology is quite suitable for the delivery of other gases with therapeutic potential.
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