William Atkins
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 06:24
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
French and American scientists have come up with a way to increase the percentage of oxygen in the blood of mice. Could the next step be to do the same thing for humans in order to strengthen an already weakened heart?
French researcher
Jean-Marie Lehn (who, also, won the Noble Prize in Chemistry in 1987) of the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires, Université Louis Pasteur (University of Strasbourg) (France) and his French and U.S. team experimented with mice that were normal and those with severe heart problems.
They used the molecule myo-inositol trispyrophosphate (ITPP) to increase the amount of oxygen in the blood.
When ITPP is introduced into the blood it begins to bind to hemoglobin, which makes hemoglobin more efficient.
In fact, hemoglobin, by itself, only allows about 25% of oxygen to be released into the bloodstream.
However, when it binds with ITPP the efficiency by which hemoglobin is increased drastically.
His team included Andreia Biolo, Ruth Greferath, Deborah A. Siwik, Fuzhong Oin, Eugene Valsky, Konstantina C. Fylaktakidou, Srinivasu Pothukanuri, Carolina D. Duarte, Richard P. Schwarz, Claude Nicolau, and Wilson S. Colucci.
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