Inhaled nitric oxide: can it serve as a savior for COVID-19 and related respiratory and cardiovascular diseases?

Yifan Zhao; Cheng Li; Shuai Zhang; Jiayu Cheng; Yucheng Liu; Xiaorong Han; Yinghui Wang; Yonggang Wang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1277552

Inhaled nitric oxide: can it serve as a savior for COVID-19 and related respiratory and cardiovascular diseases?

Front Microbiol. 2023 Oct 2:14:1277552. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1277552. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yifan Zhao¹, Cheng Li¹, Shuai Zhang¹, Jiayu Cheng¹, Yucheng Liu², Xiaorong Han³, Yinghui Wang¹, Yonggang Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiovascular Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
² Department of Family and Community Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States.
³ Department of Special Care Center, Fuwai Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO), as an important gaseous medium, plays a pivotal role in the human body, such as maintaining vascular homeostasis, regulating immune-inflammatory responses, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and inhibiting leukocyte adhesion. In recent years, the rapid prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has greatly affected the daily lives and physical and mental health of people all over the world, and the therapeutic efficacy and resuscitation strategies for critically ill patients need to be further improved and perfected. Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) is a selective pulmonary vasodilator, and some studies have demonstrated its potential therapeutic use for COVID-19, severe respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary infections, and pulmonary hypertension. In this article, we describe the biochemistry and basic characteristics of NO and discuss whether iNO can act as a "savior" for COVID-19 and related respiratory and cardiovascular disorders to exert a potent clinical protective effect.

Keywords: COVID-19; acute respiratory distress syndrome; inhaled nitric oxide; lung infection; nitric oxide; pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (CL, grant number: 82000347). This study was also supported by Jilin Province Science and technology development plan project (CL, grant number: YDZJ202301ZYTS441).