Carbon monoxide is a deadly poison, but in the right dose, it could help treat conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. Now researchers think whipping it into a foam and inserting it via the rectum could be a safe way to deliver treatment
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “So, we looked to molecular gastronomy and what they’ve done in terms of pushing the physical boundaries of food,” he says.The researchers placed ingredients commonly found in processed foods, like xanthan gum, inside pressurised vessels containing carbon monoxide. They then entrapped the gas inside these materials by whipping them at high speeds. The resulting concoction looks like a dollop of frothed milk.
Next, they inserted the foam into the rectums of about 40 mice and rats with symptoms of one of three conditions: inflammatory bowel disease , radiation-induced gut damage or liver failure related to an overdose of acetaminophen. Across all three, the treated rodents had significant reductions in inflammation and tissue injury compared with those given a control foam or no treatment at all. For IBD, for instance, colon biopsies from treated rodents showed an average disease score of about 1.
The benefits seen in the liver indicate that once the carbon monoxide is released from the foam, it enters the bloodstream where it can access other organs, says Otterbein. This means the foam could potentially treat a wide range of conditions like cardiovascular, kidney or lung diseases. “I don’t know if there is another foam out there used to deliver therapeutic gases,” says Traverso. “This opens up a whole new way of how we think about therapeutics.”
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