Drug for Neonatal Respiratory Failure

A study of a new drug has demonstrated that it can improve the oxygenation of babies whose lungs are unable to properly oxygenate their blood. The study was published in the July 13, 2002, issue of The Lancet.

The drug, called O-nitrosoethanol (ENO), was tested on seven newborns with persistent pulmonary hypertension, a potentially life-threatening disorder that severely limits the amount of blood flowing through the lungs. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC, USA) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Chevy Chase, MD, USA) developed the drug. They believe it will also be helpful to patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell disease.

The researchers found that a class of molecules called S-nitrosothiols (SNO) within airways of the lung regulate vessel and airway relaxation in response to the needs of tissues and are more effective than nitric oxide (NO). They also found that SNO is depleted in the lungs of hypoxemic babies. Previously, it was thought that NO alone relaxed the vessels. Inhaled NO gas can produce SNOs, but it does so very inefficiently and in the process toxic free radicals are produced.

"These findings are just as dramatic as the original nitric oxide studies, but this new agent appears to be safer,” said Ronald Goldberg, M.D., chief of neonatal-perinatal medicine at Duke and a co-author of the paper. "Because the features of ENO are different from NO, the side effects and properties may be different as well.”




Related Links:
Howard Hughes Medical Inst
Duke University Medical Center