Get the latest tech news

First Antidote For Carbon Monoxide Poisoning 'Cleans' Blood In Minutes


An anonymous reader New Atlas: An engineered protein that acts like a molecular sponge has the potential to change how carbon monoxide poisoning is treated, chasing down CO molecules in the bloodstream and helping the body flush them out in just minutes, without the risk of short- or long-term healt...

An anonymous reader New Atlas: An engineered protein that acts like a molecular sponge has the potential to change how carbon monoxide poisoning is treated, chasing down CO molecules in the bloodstream and helping the body flush them out in just minutes, without the risk of short- or long-term health issues that come with the current frontline treatment, pure oxygen. In bacteria, RcoM detects trace amounts of CO in the environment, so the engineers believed this could be harnessed to scavenge for CO molecules attached to red blood cells instead. "Unlike other protein-based treatments, we found the compound caused only minimal changes in blood pressure, which was an exciting finding and raised the potential for this new molecule to have clinical applications," said study corresponding author Dr Mark T. Gladwin, Dean of UMSOM.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Slashdot

Read more on:

Photo of minutes

minutes

Photo of antidote

antidote

Photo of blood

blood

Related news:

News photo

I customized my Linux desktop in minutes with this free app - here's how

News photo

How I used Conky to make my Linux desktop cooler - in minutes

News photo

How we found TeaOnHer spilling users’ driver’s licenses in less than 10 minutes