Simple and Reliable Measurement of Nitric Oxide Metabolites in Plasma

Featured article: Moshage H, Kok B, Huizenga JR, Jansen PLM. Nitrite and nitrate determinations in plasma: a critical evaluation. Clin Chem 1995;41: 892–6.1The history of nitric oxide (NO•) is a remarkable one. In the early 1980s it was established that nitric oxide was produced in the human body. Shortly afterward it became clear that nitric oxide had important functions in the regulation of vascular tone, and it was demonstrated that nitric oxide was identical to endothelium-derived relaxing factor, a factor derived from endothelial cells that induced relaxation of smooth muscle cells. Nitric oxide was selected as the 1992 Molecule of the Year by the journal Science , and the 1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology was awarded to Louis Ignarro, Ferid Murad, and Robert Furchgott, the founders of nitric oxide research. Since its discovery, the gaseous radical nitric oxide has elicited much attention from the scientific community, and nitric oxide has been implicated in many diverse processes ranging from the regulation of vascular tone and male erectile function to neurotransmission and microbiocidal activity.Soon …