This article investigated a new form of treatment for carbon monooxide (CO) poisoning, one of the most common causes of poison-related death worlwide. CO binds to hemoglobin with much greater affinty than oxygen producing carboxyhemoglobin and thus causing tissue damage. Visible light treatment is shown to dissociate CO from hemoglobin with a single photon. The study exposed mice to phototherapy at 532, 570, 592, and 628 nm of light. As a result, CO was dissociated from hemoglobin and doubled the rate of CO elimination. Further research could invesigate the use of phototherapy in humans.

Link: http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.201503-0609OC

Group: Robbie George, Doug Grove, Aubrey Graham, Carly Gridley