Worldwide, doctors and researchers have been trying their best to discover a cure to eliminate the deadly virus we have come to know by the name- Coronavirus. SARs-COV-2 releases the virus COVID, which had caused now about 1.11 million deaths worldwide, and 39.9 million people are still struggling with the effects of viruses.
Since the discovery of vaccines to collectively help all the nations seems still the furthest possibility, now and then, there are confident near possible alternatives discovered by scholars so that the immediate need to help people survive the disease could be assessable in the market.
The downpouring economy is also a significant concern right now; with hospital facilities still on the low, researchers have developed a new theory that might relieve COVID affected patients. One of these new research hypotheses developed stated that nitric oxide can help to cure or to lessen the COVID-19 symptoms in people.
The researchers further confirmed their hypotheses by conducting an in vitro study, which proved that inhaling nitric oxide can be an effective antiviral treatment in the present. Currently, the hospitals and doctors have only one antiviral treatment present with them and have helped to reduce the recovery time of several COVID affected patients who had to be hospitalized; this medicine is known as Remdesivir.
Before confirming Remdesivir as an antiviral treatment, a placebo-experiment conducted on many COVID affected patients proved that prescribing the medicine to patients whose condition might turn somewhat severe in the recovery period could be beneficial to the recovery rate and speed.
Research on Nitric Oxide and How can it help?
Many of the previous researches have shown signs of recovery with the help of nitric oxide. The compound was helpful and effective against certain viruses such as herpes, hantavirus, etc. Medical News Today also mentioned in one of their articles regarding a previous in vitro study conducted in 2005 that involved cell cultures grown in the lab.
The study of 2005 proved that nitric oxide successfully inhibited a virus known as SARs-COV, which is a replica of the SARs-COV-2 virus and closely related to it. SARs COV had previously caused a global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the year 2003.
Experts believe that since nitric oxide is a cell-signaling molecule produced by our own body, they are potent in treating COVID-19. It is so because nitric oxide as a molecular compound has anti-inflammatory properties.
The research conducted on Nitric oxide proved that inhaling this compound can be helpful in ways that it enables the blood vessels to increase blood flow, making it an antiviral treatment element. But the dosage of inhalation should be at a lower concentration.
Although researchers first based the study on SARs COV, a virus closely related to the present coronavirus, they believe that if the replica virus inhibition could be possible with nitric oxide. Hence, the Redox Biology journal has approved of SARs-COV 2 treatment with nitric oxide compound.
The Research on Monkey Cell Structures
The senior author of the study conducted to prove the hypotheses about nitric oxide’s effect on SARs virus Åke Lundkvist said that,
The dosage and timing of starting treatment probably play an important part in the outcome, and now need to be explored as soon as possible. INitric Oxide could be a hopeful antiviral treatment until a vaccine is finally discovered to eradicate the disease.
Since the research was an in vitro study, Lundkvist and his team experimented with nitric oxide’s impact on cell cultures of COVID-infected monkeys. The team tried treating the cells with a nitric oxide generating chemical know as SNAP (S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine). They treated other cells with an identical chemical to SNAP known as NAP (N-acetlypenicillamine) to control the other extraneous variables.
The results were positive that showed SNAP lessening the viral RNA produced by those infected cell cultures. As the concentration of SNAP increased, it became the best protection against the virus. On the other hand, NAP did not show any sign of reduction or effect on the cell culture.
Hence proved that nitric oxide could be a better chemical agent for treating COVID. Researchers were sure that the virus uses an enzyme known as a protease to make its copies, which was inhibited by nitric oxide, making it a potential antiviral treatment.
Concluding Theory
In the present, doctors and medical professionals are already using Nitric Oxide to cure diseases related to the heart and lungs. They have said that inhaling nitric oxide chemical as gas could help to heal COVID-19.
Due to the chemical’s ability to dilate the blood vessel in the parts where there are the highest oxygen levels, it increases oxygen in the body. It is a perfect antiviral treatment for now. COVID patients could also face severe blood clots in their lungs, but Nitric Oxide helps lessen the possibilities of the same.
In the end, the researchers of this paper believe that for now, making effective use of nitric oxide would be a wise decision to consider, and further in-depth analysis needs to be made on animal models of COVID-19 as the present study was still an in vitro study. An animal model will finally approve of the chemical agent’s active utilization until the vaccine is available to all of us.
