New generation antihypoxants: alkaline hydrogen peroxide solutions as medical oxygen gas generators

Abstract

The cause of biological death in warm-blooded animals and humans is hypoxic brain cell damage. Consequently, oxygen gas is the leading antihypoxant in emergency medical care for all critical conditions. The most common method of oxygen administration is mechanical ventilation. However, in cases of asphyxia caused by airway obstruction with thick sputum, mucus, pus, and/or blood, inhaled oxygen does not reach the alveoli and is not absorbed into the bloodstream. In such situations, traditional mechanical ventilation becomes ineffective and fails to prevent biological death due to hypoxic brain cell damage. At the beginning of the 21st century, as an alternative to gaseous oxygen, mechanical ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, the development of intrapulmonary oxygen-producing antihypoxants through physicochemical repurposing of hydrogen peroxide was initiated in Russia. Professor P.D. Shabanov served as the mind behind and coordinator of the development of new-generation antihypoxants. A new group of antihypoxants — warm alkaline hydrogen peroxide solutions — was discovered. The most effective oxygen-producing antihypoxants, when applied locally via the intrapulmonary route, generate significant volumes of medical oxygen gas through catalase-mediated decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and molecular oxygen. The local intrapulmonary, endotracheal, and endobronchial pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of warm alkaline hydrogen peroxide solutions are inseparable from interactions with catalase present in sputum, mucus, serous fluids, purulent masses, and blood that obstruct the airways during asphyxia and/or severe acute respiratory obstruction. The new generation of antihypoxants has demonstrated high therapeutic potential as powerful medical oxygen gas generators when administered intrapulmonarily, endobronchially, or endotracheally during acute severe suffocation caused by airway blockage with colloidal liquids containing catalase. It is hypothesized that intrapulmonary oxygen-producing antihypoxants could be considered therapeutic agents for emergency blood oxygen saturation through the lungs when mechanical ventilation is ineffective and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is not feasible.

Keywords

hydrogen peroxide / oxygen gas / antihypoxants / catalase / oxygen generator / development / drugs

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