Carbon monoxide has poisoned 977 people since September 1. American researchers announce that they have found an antidote to this toxic gas.
You don’t feel it, you don’t see it, but it’s there. Very present. That silent killer is carbon monoxide. Since September 1, he has killed three people in France. 974 others were hospitalized. The cold season starts with a bang for this gas emitted during partial combustion.
In his latest report, Public health France stresses that incidents are more numerous than usual. The French indeed adopt bad habits. Poisoning linked to the indoor use of braziers, barbecues and generators are all too frequent.
Currently, people who have inhaled carbon monoxide end up in two types of departments: emergency rooms or hyperbaric medicine departments. But that could change.
A study from the University of Pittsburgh (United States) indeed shows the effectiveness of a molecule which is capable of eliminating this gas from the body. The work, carried out on the mouse, appeared in Science Translational Medicine.
High survival
The molecule in question is called neuroglobin. It is naturally present in the brain. Similar to hemoglobin, it traps carbon monoxide with 500 times the power. The researchers modified it to make it even more effective. The product was then injected into CO poisoned mice. The administered dose is capable of killing a human in a matter of minutes. And yet, 87% of the animals survived this exposure.
Neuroglobin acts like hemoglobin in the face of toxic gas. She traps him and transports him. But the role of red blood cells is to make the connection between the lungs, the heart and the organs. This explains the suffocation. Neuroglobin, on the other hand, evacuates CO into the urine. The mice therefore saw their heart rate improve and their blood pressure drop.
Another advantage is that the molecule has a marked preference for carbon monoxide. It therefore selects the most dangerous compound. This raises the hope of an antidote to this gas. The health consequences are currently difficult to manage. But the authors point out: it is not certain that all the effects of an intoxication are resolved by this system.
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