“…The biochemical mechanism(s) responsible for this COmediated protection is not clearly understood, but it is thought to be associated with the ability of endogenous CO to suppress the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as platelet-derived growth factor, endothelin and/or interleukin-1, and TNF-␣ (Platt and Nath 1998;Otterbein et al 2000), and to activate the Na ϩ ,K ϩ -ATPase for the maintenance of membrane potential (Nathanson et al 1995). Because of this, the anti-inflammatory potential of HO-1 expression is attractive for practical use, for example, in therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (Caltabiano et al 1986) and transplantation where rapid expression of HO-1 in cardiac xenografts can be essential to ensure long-term xenograft survival (Soares et al 1998). Although the end products of HO-1 may act as antistress agents, it may also be toxic to the lungs and other oxygen-sensitive tissues at elevated concentration (Forbes 1970).…”