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Deadly ally in fight for life: Low doses of carbon monoxide can prevent miscarriage

By staff 20/02/2012 07:37:00

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By Ted Thornhill

Last updated at 1:37 PM on 20th February 2012

Carbon monoxide is rightly feared, as inhaling too much of it is deadly. However, this lethal gas has been shown to have remarkable life-saving properties for foetuses.

Researchers from the Otto-von-Guericke University in Germany have shown that low doses of carbon monoxide can increase the growth of blood vessels in the placenta and establish blood flow in the umbilical cord.

These are both crucial factors in a baby’s health. Problems in placental function and blood flow can result in a 'small for gestational age' baby, miscarriage or perinatal death.

Unlikely help: Carbon monoxide has been shown to prevent miscarriage and perinatal death

Carbon monoxide’s amazing ability is in mimicking the effects of the Heme oxygenase-1 enzyme, which promotes the growth of blood vessels in the placenta and umbilical cord blood flow.

Both miscarriage and pre-eclampsia - a rise in hypertension - are associated with low levels of HO-1 in the placenta.

The researchers used carbon monoxide on mice with unhealthily small foetuses – a condition known as Intrauterine growth restriction - and were able to restore placental function and prevent foetal death without any detrimental effects.

They found that an extended course of low dose carbon monoxide on mice was able to reduce foetal loss from 30 per cent to zero – all the babies survived.

Mouse about that: Tests on pregnant mice proved successful with all the unhealthily small babies surviving

Professor Ana Claudia Zenclussen, who led the research explained: ‘At the levels used to prevent foetal death we found that inhaled low dose carbon monoxide was anti-inflammatory. It reduced the amount of cell death.’

Intrauterine growth restriction is a serious complication of pregnancy. Surviving babies have a lifelong increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease and renal disease. In the face of these fears carbon monoxide therapy may provide a lifeline to mothers at risk.

However there is a cautionary note - higher doses of carbon monoxide were able to improve placental function but were damaging to the fetus, shorter treatment at low dose was not enough to prevent fetal death.

Prof Zenclussen warned, ‘It is very important, given the inherent dangers in using carbon monoxide, that the dose and length of treatment are tightly controlled.’

Results of the study were published in BioMed Central's open access journal Medical Gas Research.

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