Antioxidants/antihypoxants: the missing puzzle piece in effective pathogenetic therapy for COVID-19
Т. А. Воронина
Abstract
This review focuses on the specific characteristics of COVID-19 disease, which leads not only to respiratory impairments (bronchoalveolar epithelium does not retain oxygen, etc.), but also decreases the level of hemoglobin and its ability to transfer oxygen to the organs and tissues and increases the level of heme, resulting in anoxemia, hypoxia in all organs and tissues, and oxidative stress. Mexidol, a drug developed in Russia, is widely used in clinical practice, including the treatment of diseases accompanied by ischemia and hypoxia. Mexidol has antihypoxic and antioxidant effects, can treat mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction, thereby affecting the key processes in different cells of organs and tissues that develop due to hypoxia. Mexidol can be useful in the comprehensive therapy of patients with COVID-19. Key words: COVID-19, antioxidant, antihypoxant, hemoglobin, hypoxia, Mexidol, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress