Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Nitric oxide/antiviral nose spray for COVID-19

Morgan - 22-3-2021 at 11:35

Just wondering what chemicals might be used to generate the nitric oxide.

“It normally comes in gas cylinders and normally gets delivered to hospitals, but we wanted a practical way to deliver it as a liquid antimicrobial and have spent the last 12 years developing this,” said Regev.

Ingredients of the spray mix together when it is administered to form nitric oxide, she said, noting: “All components are used widely in the food industry and have a very strong safety profile.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/life-saving-nose-spray-that-ki...

Dr.Bob - 22-3-2021 at 11:42

Maybe fuming nitric acid? I am pretty sure it will kill covid.

Fulmen - 22-3-2021 at 12:09

Wow. Nitrogen oxide is pretty harmful stuff, 25ppm/8h.

Morgan - 22-3-2021 at 12:14

Tidbit via Wiki ...
"The 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for discovering nitric oxide's role as a cardiovascular signalling molecule."

Apparently there are over-the-counter nasal sprays that tout nitric oxide as an ingredient.

And this ...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-spray/...

[Edited on 22-3-2021 by Morgan]

WGTR - 22-3-2021 at 12:31

At very low concentrations in air, apparently the conversion to NO2 is slow or practically non-existent.

symboom - 22-3-2021 at 15:26

I guess it was NO nitric oxide I was thinking it was nitrous oxide N2O "All components are used widely in the food industry and have a very strong safety profile.”"

Do you mean poppers like butyl nitrite which is far different from chemical NO. butyl nitrite causes the body to release NO of course in the correct place where it doesn't do damage.

[Edited on 23-3-2021 by symboom]

Aloesci - 22-3-2021 at 16:12

I think this is a really quite interesting idea for a medical product. It has an active chemical reaction happening on/in the body at a slow rate to deliver treatment.

Looking on the website for this nasal spray, it says that its a patented technology with 3 compounds which when 'wetted' release NO.
Naturally I then went and looked up the patent which says:

"The present invention also relates to a liquid NORS comprised of at least one nitrite compound having a concentration of no greater than about 0.5% w/v and at least one acidifying agent, wherein the NORS releases a therapeutically effective amount of gNO."

I wonder what nitrite salt and what reaction they have designed to take place in peoples noses?

Fery - 23-3-2021 at 00:30

NO is also synthesized in human body from arginine, the enzyme involved is NOS (NO Synthase)
there are already some pharma substances which interact with NOS

symboom - 23-3-2021 at 00:57

Yep found out the hard way that dialates the blood vessels too I thought only Niacin and Alanine causes a flush feeling nope.
Both are great for exercise.


[Edited on 23-3-2021 by symboom]

Fery - 24-3-2021 at 07:15

symboom - the nitric oxide is very interesting neurotransmitter and it also affects vessels in male external reproductive system where it is the principal agent ;-) but applying it to this part of body in a form of spray/gas has only placebo effect (no chance to enter smooth muscles of the involved vessels)
according the link in the initial post of this thread it apparently works in upper airways when inhaling, where we usually use spray of astringents - astringents are already known for few decades

clearly_not_atara - 24-3-2021 at 09:28

But we already have drugs to deliver nitric oxide?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NONOate

[Edited on 24-3-2021 by clearly_not_atara]