Pharmacological evaluation and preclinical studies of hypochlorous acid solution

Abstract

The article presents materials on the electrochemical synthesis of hypochlorous acid and its pharmacological and toxicological evaluation. In the market of veterinary drugs, special attention has been paid to long-known, potent detoxifying antimicrobial agents based on active oxygen obtained by the electrolysis method. In addition to a broad spectrum of antimicrobial action, such drugs have several other advantages, especially the biogenic nature, which causes the absence of allergic reactions. New electrocatalysts were proposed for the electrochemical synthesis of hypochlorous acid, which was produced according to the following method using a combined electrochemical-pyrolytic method. VT1-0 technical titanium was used as a current collector. The current collectors were subjected to several preliminary preparation steps, such as NaOH degreasing and etching in 6 M HCl. Initial nanotubes were obtained by anodizing Ti foil in ethylene glycol with 0.3 wt.% ammonium fluoride and 2 vol.% water for 4 hours. The electrochemical reduction was carried out in 1 M HClO4 by cathodic polarization for 1 hour. Later, a thin discontinuous layer of platinum or consecutive layers of platinum-palladium were applied to the base by electrodeposition. Nitrite electrolytes for platinization and phosphate-palladation were used for this purpose. Depending on the task, platinum, and palladium on the ground's surface varied from 0.1 to 2.0 mg/cm2. The obtained material was heat-treated in an air atmosphere. At this stage, the surface layers of composites were formed due to the oxidation of the base and encapsulation of platinum and palladium particles in titanium oxide. It was established that the solution of hypochlorous acid, obtained by the electrolysis method, is a low-hazard substance that belongs to the fourth class of toxicity. Its half-lethal dose (DL50) is not determined. The fact that, in nature, hypochlorite acid is formed by granulocytes of neutrophils involved in the last link of phagocytosis confirms that the resulting solution is low-toxic, environmentally safe, and incapable of causing side effects and distant consequences. The obtained results proved the perspective of using new technology for producing hypochlorite acid for veterinary medicine; its development is highly relevant, clinically expedient, and economically justified.

Keywords

• hypochlorous acid solution; electrocatalyst; acute toxicity; sublethal dose (dl50).