Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 17:2022:5857979.
doi: 10.1155/2022/5857979. eCollection 2022.

Some Beneficial Effects of Inert Gases on Blood Oxidative Metabolism: In Vivo Study

Andrew Martusevich  1   2 , Alexandra Surovegina  1   2 , Alexandra Popovicheva  2 , Natalia Didenko  2 , Mikhail Artamonov  3 , Vladimir Nazarov  1   2
Affiliations

Some Beneficial Effects of Inert Gases on Blood Oxidative Metabolism: In Vivo Study

Andrew Martusevich et al. Biomed Res Int. .

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of external use of inert gases (helium and argon) on the state of free radical processes in vivo. The experiment was performed on 30 male Wistar stock rats (age-3 months, weight-200-220 g.), randomly distributed into 3 equal groups. The first group of animals was intact (n = 10). The animals of the second and third groups were treated with argon and helium streams, respectively. Our research has allowed us to establish that the studied inert gases have a modulating effect on the state of oxidative metabolism of rat blood, and the nature of this effect is directly determined by the type of gas. The results of this study allowed us to establish the potential antioxidant effect of the helium stream, mainly realized due to the activation of the catalytic properties of the enzymatic link of the antioxidant system of rat blood plasma. At the same time, the revealed features of shifts in oxidative metabolism during treatment with argon flow include not only stimulation of the antioxidant system but also the pronounced induction of free radical oxidation. Thus, the conducted studies made it possible to verify the specificity of the response of the oxidative metabolism of blood plasma to the use of inert gases, depending on their type.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of experiment performing (He: Helium; Ar: argon).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The intensity of free radical oxidation in rat blood plasma when treated with various inert gases (“∗”-differences relative to intact animals are statistically significant, p < 0.05; “#”-differences relative to intact animals are statistically significant, p < 0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The level of total antioxidant activity of rat blood plasma when treated with various inert gases (“∗”-differences relative to intact animals are statistically significant, p < 0.05).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The concentration of malonic dialdehyde in the blood plasma of rats when treated with various inert gases (“∗”-differences relative to intact animals are statistically significant, p < 0.05).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Blood catalase activity during treatment with various inert gases (“∗”-differences relative to intact animals are statistically significant, p < 0.05).
Figure 6
Figure 6
The activity of rat blood superoxide dismutase when treated with various inert gases (“∗”-differences relative to intact animals are statistically significant, p < 0.05; NADH: reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide).
Figure 7
Figure 7
The concentration of ischemically modified albumin in the blood plasma of rats when treated with various inert gases (“∗”-differences relative to intact animals are statistically significant, p < 0.05).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Possible molecular mechanism of the biological effects of helium and argon (adaptive pathway indicates in green; disadaptive pathway indicates in red; He: helium; Ar: argon; ROS: reactive oxygen species; SOD: superoxide dismutase; ∗OH−: hydroxyl ion; O3: ozone; 1O2: singlet oxygen; H2O2:hydrogen peroxide; DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Featherstone R. M., Settle W. The pharmacology of the rare gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon) Actualites Pharmacologiques . 1974;27:69–86. - PubMed
    1. Dickinson R., Franks N. P. Bench-to-bedside review: molecular pharmacology and clinical use of inert gases in anesthesia and neuroprotection. Critical care . 2010;14(4):p. 229. doi: 10.1186/cc9051. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deng R. M., Li H. Y., Li X., et al. Neuroprotective effect of helium after neonatal hypoxic ischemia: a narrative review. Medical Gas Research . 2021;11(3):121–123. doi: 10.4103/2045-9912.314332. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Winkler D. A., Thornton A., Farjot G., Katz I. The diverse biological properties of the chemically inert noble gases. Pharmacology & Therapeutics . 2016;160:44–64. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2016.02.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zafonte R. D., Wang L., Arbelaez C. A., Dennison R., Teng Y. D. Medical gas therapy for tissue, organ, and CNS protection: a systematic review of effects, mechanisms, and challenges. Advanced Science . 2022;9(13, article e2104136) doi: 10.1002/advs.202104136. - DOI - PMC - PubMed