The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has spread around the world, caused the death of many affected patients, partly because of the lack of oxygen arising from impaired respiration or blood circulation. Thus, maintaining an appropriate level of oxygen in the patients' blood by devising alternatives to ventilator systems is a top priority goal for clinicians. The present review highlights the ever-increasing application of nanobubbles (NBs), miniature gaseous vesicles, for the oxygenation of hypoxic patients. Oxygen-containing NBs can exert a range of beneficial physiologic and pharmacologic effects that include tissue oxygenation, as well as tissue repair mechanisms, antiinflammatory properties, and antibacterial activity. In this review, we provide a comprehensive survey of the application of oxygen-containing NBs, with a primary focus on the development of intravenous platforms. The multimodal functions of oxygen-carrying NBs, including antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, drug carrying, and the promotion of wound healing are discussed, including the benefits and challenges of using NBs as a treatment for patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, particularly due to COVID-19.
© 2021 American Chemical Society.