Nitrous Oxide, Auto-immune disease, and New Science

​The first COORS meeting of the year started with a review of outstanding scientific advancements of the year in all fields.  We then spent the next hour focused on what is known about nitrous oxide.  Mechanisms, indications, contraindications, and side-effects were all explored.  Eugene Sakai presented a summary of the "sandwich" technique.  Martha Rich introduced autoimmune disease, talking about her experience.  I talked about what we know of the physiology and causes of these terrible disorders.  A critical element is the immune system's discrimination of self and non self.  The above image is the slide of sialic acids that are involved in this identification.  The one on the left is Neu5Gc which is often involved in tissue rejection and autoimmune disease.  The one on the right is Neu5Ac which is extremely common in humans.  Note the different structure.

​Dave