title: The measurement of endogenous carbon monoxide production.
abstract: Recent findings that heme oxygenase-1 can be induced by oxidative stress and inflammation in many different cellular systems, and that carbon monoxide (CO) produced as a by-product of this enzyme is a signaling molecule, have generated a major research area with hundreds of studies published over the last few years. The measurement of expired CO concentration has been used in humans as a biomarker of induced heme oxygenase resulting from inflammation or oxidative stress, but a precise method of measuring endogenous CO production that can be easily used to study patients is needed. The present study describes such a method. The described method allows calculation of the rate of heme catabolism with a precision of ±2 μmol/h, ∼10% of the mean normal rate in subjects used in this investigation. This method, which is subject-patient friendly, precise, and inexpensive to perform, should be applicable to studies performed on humans with induced heme oxygenase and studies of effects of therapy for inflammatory and hemolytic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. rfcoburn@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Ronald F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Coburn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1