Researchers at the Sarov Institute of Physics and Technology in the closed science town of Sarov some 160km south of Nizhny Novgorod in the mid-Volga region have developed a system to produce pure nitrogen monoxide (NO). The Institute is a subsidiary research hub of Moscow’s MEPhI National Nuclear University. The local Russian Federal Nuclear Center actively took part in the development.
The scientists used non-equilibrium plasma generated at a very high electron temperature and with relatively cold ions. The effort is said to have resulted in obtaining pure NO that can be used for medical purposes.
The primary application for the new invention called “Tianox” is assistance in cardiovascular treatment. Cardiac cases often demonstrate blood pressure elevation, and inhalation with nitrogen monoxide is believed to be the only acceptable way of lowering the pressure.
In addition, clinical trials are currently under way to test the system for efficacy in COVID-19 therapies. Acute pneumonia that typically develops as a result of coronavirus infection is reported to cause thrombosis of small blood vessels in the lungs. Using NO is said to enable the “unclogging” of the vessels.
The idea of using NO in medical treatments dates back to 1965 when nitrogen monoxide’s impact on biological processes in the human body was first discovered and described in the Soviet Union. In the late 1990’s, a group of American biophysicists received a Nobel Prize for their own discovery connected with NO.
This story initially appeared in Marchmont Innovation News, Russia’s daily business news website.