Carbon Monoxide and the Brain: Time to Rethink the Dogma
Carbon Monoxide (CO), long thought to be a simple environmental pollutant is now known to have a critical role in cellular functions ranging from vasodilation to circadian rhythms.
Has this simple diatomic gas has really earned its nefarious reputation. The potential therapeutic roles for CO in neurological diseases including ischemic stroke, multiple sclerosis, and neuropathic pain.
Carbon monoxide, a simple diatomic gas, plays anything but a simple role in signal transduction. Long thought to be an environmental pollutant and a neurotoxin, CO has emerged to have many of the functions of nitric oxide (NO) including vasodilation, neurotransmission, inhibition of platelet aggregation(blood thinner), anti-proliferative(Tending to suppress cell growth, especially the growth of malignant cells into surrounding tissue) effects on smooth muscle, as well as being an anti-inflammatory agent under certain conditions and concentrations.