Therapist Unlimited Blog

Based on the latest medical study carbon monoxide (CO) offers protect against arterial clotting.
Researchers led by Drs. James F. George and Anupam Agarwal at the University of Alabama at Birmingham revealed carbon monoxide poisoning is extremely toxic; exposure prevents oxygen delivery to body tissues and is often fatal.

Carbon Monoxide

However,  the researchers explained inflamed or injured tissues upregulate heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a protein that both protects cells and produces CO, suggesting that low levels of CO may have protective effects.
To determine if HO-1 and CO can protect against arterial clotting, the researchers examined clotting mechanisms in mice that received arterial transplants.
Absence of HO-1 in these mice resulted in significant mortality due to arterial clotting; however, treatment with a CO-releasing molecule both decreased clotting and improved survival
With their findings, the researchers concluded that HO-1/CO plays an "important role in protection against vascular arterial thrombosis in murine aortic allotransplantation."