Study Identifies Possible Role for Carbon Monoxide in Treating Hemorrhagic Stroke

Small amounts of carbon monoxide, a compound infamous for causing thousands of deaths as well as numerous brain conditions, may actually protect the brain from damage if administered after a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center wrote in The Journal of Clinical Investigation regarding their experiments in which minute amounts of carbon monoxide were found to accelerate a natural cellular process that removes heme — a highly toxic element found in red blood cells known for accumulating and causing brain inflammation following a hemorrhagic stroke. “My laboratory has been studying the properties of carbon monoxide for years, but we’ve never investigated a possible therapeutic role for CO in the brain,” said a lead researcher. The co-senior authors of the study were interested in subarachnoid hemorrhage and were already investigating mechanisms by which heme caused inflammation in the brain following stroke. “It was this natural multidisciplinary collaboration between our laboratories that helped lead to this exciting paradoxical discovery.” To learn more about this study, click here.