Ray Peat on Carbon Monoxide

Questioning Neodarwinism through the Analysis of Hormetic Toxins

“If toxins like CO and NO are hormetically active and beneficial when present in urban air, then they must obviously be very useful when produced in the body by enzymes that have evolved through natural selection of things that support survival – this reveals a clearly Panglossian aspect of Neodarwinism: Everything exists because of its utility.”

November 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Survival Responses of Stressed Cells and Their Long-Term Consequences

“Part of the fundamental cellular defense response includes enzymes that process toxins in a way that improves the immediate situation but can create new problems for the organism if they become chronic. For example, stressed tissues produce carbon monoxide and estrogen, which prevent apoptosis and promote autophagy, providing short-term survival value. While surviving in the stressed state under the influence of CO and estrogen, cells produce cytokines that affect the sensitivity of surrounding cells to stress and inflammation, and increasingly undergo epigenetic changes, tending to develop into cells of a different type.”

November 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stress-Induced Carbon Monoxide and Markers of Chronic Diseases

“When carbon monoxide is produced under stress, the breakdown of the heme molecule also releases iron and biliverdin, which is quickly converted into bilirubin. Increases in bilirubin and carbon monoxide in body fluids or breath can be observed in many chronic diseases, along with changes in tissue iron content.”

November 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Substances That Mitigate the Harmful Effects of Carbon Monoxide

“Safe substances that lower carbon monoxide or protect against its effects include methylene blue, caffeine, aspirin, progesterone, and red light.”

November 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Carbon Monoxide Exposure and Autistic Behaviors in Animals

“Some researchers studying autism have found that animals exposed to carbon monoxide exhibit some of the behaviors seen in autistic children.”

November 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Anti-Respiratory Substances Produced by Estrogen and Their Effects

“One of the anti-respiratory substances produced by estrogen is carbon monoxide (Tschugguel et al., 2001). Another inhibitor of mitochondrial oxidation, hydrogen sulfide, is also increased by estrogen (Lechuga et al., 2015).”

January 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Excitotoxic Damage and the Protective Role of Carbon Dioxide

“Histamine release, nitric oxide, and carbon monoxide are broadly involved in excitotoxic damage, and carbon dioxide also provides protection against these.”

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stressed Cells Release Ammonia and Carbon Monoxide

“Researchers studying lipid peroxidation in liver cell extracts found that carbon monoxide was produced. Many have observed that stressed cells release ammonia.”

January 1989 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Inhibition of Respiratory Energy and Cytochromes by Cyanide

“Since carbon monoxide binds to metal atoms, it could be held in a form that readily reacts with ammonia. During stress, which causes both lipid peroxidation and ammonia formation, rhodanese would then be needed to protect the respiratory cytochromes from cyanide, which would otherwise inhibit respiratory energy production and other processes involving the cytochromes.”

January 1989 – Ray Peat's Newsletter
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