Carbon Monoxide, the Lethal Killer, Has Medical Benefit

Chemists at the University of Sheffield, UK, have paradoxically discovered an innovative way to use the gas carbon monoxide, with its deadly reputation, to save lives and boost health.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is produced in the body as part of its own natural defensive system, as has been shown by research carried out in the last ten years. Now, chemistry has been used to define a way in which CO can be administered in small doses to augment naturally occurring CO in order to aid patients who have undergone heart surgery, organ transplants or who suffer from high blood pressure.

Professor Brian Mann, from Sheffield University's Department of Chemistry, who led the research, said: "This project provides an excellent example of how non-biological sciences like chemistry can underpin important advances in healthcare."

The researchers have developed innovative new water-soluble molecules of CO that safely release small amounts of CO inside the body, via ingestion or injection. These new molecules called CO-releasing molecules (CO-RMs) are formed of carbonyls of metals that are already routinely used in medical treatment. A carbonyl is a molecule that is formed when CO chemically binds to a metal. The metals are such ones as ruthenium, iron and manganese, already used to treat certain conditions.

Since CO is bound to metal to form CO-RMs, then other chemistry processes can release the CO from the metal allowing CO to then react within the body in the same way that naturally produced CO reacts. Since the metals are currently used medicinally with beneficial, not harmful, affects, the metal will have no adverse affects after the CO is separated from it.

As stated by professor Mann, the CO-RMs "dissolve in water so they can be made available in an easy-to-digest liquid form that quickly passes into the bloodstream." Further, the CO-RMs can be designed to release CO during a variable time-frame: CO can be released from 30 minutes to several hours after administration. The targeted time-release would be indicated by the particular medical condition being treated.