S -Nitrosoalbumin Plasma Levels in Health and Disease: Facts or Artifacts? Value of Analytical Chemistry in Nitric Oxide Clinical Research

To the Editor:The discovery of the endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF), its identification as nitric oxide (·NO), and the recognition of its multiple biological functions, especially in the cardiovascular system, are fascinating scientific achievements of the last two decades, an effort that was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1998.Curiously, no other small molecule like ·NO challenges so many scientists from so very different disciplines. In the literature, there is no further example for the development and application of so wide a spectrum of analytical approaches and methods in recent years that has yielded highly divergent values, often within a range of three orders of magnitude, and has consequently led to numerous deceptive conclusions.In 1992, Stamler et al1 reported for the first time that ·NO circulates in plasma of healthy humans primarily as S -nitrosoalbumin (SNALB; 7000 nmol/L, n=5). Mainly on the basis of this finding, Stamler’s group1 suggested that SNALB may be a …