Oxytyte research

New chemical helps prevent brain injury using oxygen

Dr. Bruce Spiess from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, is conducting research with the chemical oxytyte.

"There is no magic pill or treatment for traumatic brain injury in terms of salvaging brain tissue. There is no way that we know of now to keep brain tissue alive," Speiss said.

Oxygen is a vital nutrient the brain can't survive without. When a brain is injured, swelling keeps the red blood cells from carrying enough oxygen to the brain. Spiess is studying a new way to deliver oxygen to vital organs called Oxycyte.

Oxycyte is a liquid, Teflon-like chemical that contains carbon and fluoride and can carry large amounts of oxygen. The particles in Oxycyte are about 1/50 to 1/100 the size of a red blood cell, so Oxycyte can carry oxygen to the brain when red blood cells can't get through.

In a study of nine patients who suffered traumatic brain injury, Spiess and his team gave them Oxycyte. In less than an hour, the oxygen levels in their brains doubled to quadrupled.

"Some of the biochemical markers, they were tending to look like severe damage to the brain Within an hour to two hours after getting the Oxycyte, they came down almost completely to normal," Spiess said.

"We think [Oxycyte] could be a major breakthrough. The sooner you get the [Oxycyte] into the patient, the more brain tissue will survive," Spiess said.

Brain injuries aren't the only injuries that could benefit from Oxycyte. Early research by Spiess' team also shows the compound can preserve spinal cord function.

"If you have a spinal cord injury, the same situation goes on, that is, how much oxygen you get to those neurons in the immediate few hours after they have been injured as to how many neurons you can salvage," Spiess said.

Source - Apparelyzed

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