Small doses of toxic gas 'could help lung disease'
Low levels of carbon monoxide could help people with lung disease, research claims
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Wednesday, 19, Mar 2008 11:11
The toxic gas carbon monoxide can kill in large quantities but small doses could help people with lung disease, new research claims.
A study reported by the New Scientist found that small quantities of the gas given to people with potentially fatal lung disease led to signs of improvement in their condition.
The study follows earlier research that revealed healing effects of carbon monoxide (CO) in tests on animals.
These found that low levels of CO can reduce inflammation and oxidative damage to tissue.
Huib Kerstjens, at the University Medical Centre Groningen in the Netherlands, and his team trialled the gas on 18 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
They were given low doses of CO in air for two hours on four consecutive days.
Levels of eosinophils – white blood cells that aggravate inflammation - fell by as much as one-third in participants' sputum (matter mixed with saliva from the respiratory tract) after the trial.
Their lungs also became more resistant to irritation.
Larger trials on people with asthma and COPD are being planned by the researchers to take place later this year.
The New Scientist also reported that a number of companies are developing drugs that gradually release CO, allowing it to act more slowly than when it is inhaled.
The manufacturers hope to target long-term inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.