The Unexpected Effect of Hydrogen Peroxide
June 10, 2009 at 6:19 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentA natural bleach produced by the body appears to play a key role in marshalling the immune system to fight off infection and heal wounds.
Hydrogen peroxide
US scientists have worked on zebrafish, which have similar genes to humans. They found a bubble of hydrogen peroxide is released following a tissue injury.
It seems like the signal for white blood cells to converge at the place of damage and start the healing process.
The nature study may help describe conditions such as asthma.
The researchers, from Harvard Medical School, inserted into the fish a gene that glows in the presence of hydrogen peroxide.
They discovered that when the tail fins of these fish were injured, a bubble of hydrogen peroxide helped to heal wound and was into the surrounding tissue.
White blood cells failed to respond to the injury when the researchers blocked the ability to produce hydrogen peroxide.
Mysterious signal
Researcher Professor Timothy Mitchison said: “We’ve known for quite some time that when the body is wounded, white blood cells show up, and it’s really a spectacular piece of biology because these cells detect the wound at some distance.”
”But we haven’t known what they’re responding to. We do know something about what summons white blood cells to areas that are chronically inflamed, but in the case of an isolated physical wound, we haven’t really known what the signal is.”
Professor Mitchison said: “Perhaps in conditions like asthma, the lung epithelia is producing too much hydrogen peroxide because it’s chronically irritated, which, if our findings translate to humans, would explain inappropriate levels of white blood cells.”
”This is certainly a question worth pursuing.”
Dr Leslie Knapp, of the University of Cambridge, said: “Although hydrogen peroxide is routinely used for wound cleaning and prevention of infection, some laboratory-based studies suggest that hydrogen peroxide can have a negative effect on the healing process by interfering with the activities of cells that form connective tissue.”
”This new study, involving a living organism, could provide new insight on immune function and the causes of various inflammatory diseases in humans.”
Dr Elaine Vickers, of the charity Asthma UK, said hydrogen peroxide levels did appear to be higher in the lungs of people with asthma, but it was not clear why.
”We welcome any research that increases our understanding of the role that hydrogen peroxide plays in the body.
”This could shed light on the causes of asthma symptoms and potentially lead to new avenues for creating future asthma treatments.”
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8078525.stm
Picture:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&sa=3&q=hydrogen+peroxide
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