Repurposing methylene blue in the management of COVID-19: Mechanistic aspects and clinical investigations

Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy

Amit Alexander¹  Neha Dabholkar²  Gautam Singhvi²  Srividya Gorantla²  Rajeev Taliyan²  Sunil Kumar Dubey³ 

[1] Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati, Assam 781101, India;Industrial Research Laboratory, Department of Pharmacy, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Pilani Campus, Rajasthan, India;Medical Research, R&D Healthcare Division, Emami Ltd, Kolkata, India;

关键词: Methylene blue;    Leucomethylene blue;    COVID-19;    SARS-CoV-2;    Nitric oxide pathway;    Cytokine storm;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the most recent coronaviruses, which has infected humans, and caused the disease COVID-19. The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020. The SARS-CoV-2 enters human hosts majorly via the respiratory tract, affecting the lungs first. In few critical cases, the infection progresses to failure of the respiratory system known as acute respiratory distress syndrome acute respiratory distress syndrome may be further associated with multi-organ failure and vasoplegic shock. Currently, the treatment of COVID-19 involves use of antiviral and anti-cytokine drugs. However, both the drugs have low efficacy because they cannot inhibit the production of free radicals and cytokines at the same time. Recently, some researchers have reported the use of methylene blue (MB) in COVID-19 management. MB has been used since a long time as a therapeutic agent, and has been approved by the US FDA for the treatment of other diseases. The additional advantage of MB is its low cost. MB is a safe drug when used in the dose of < 2 mg/kg. In this review, the applicability of MB in COVID-19 and its mechanistic aspects have been explored and compiled. The clinical studies have been explained in great detail. Thus, the potential of MB in the management of COVID-19 has been examined.

【 授权许可】

Unknown