Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
12
pubmed:dateCreated
2003-12-18
pubmed:abstractText
Nitrate is generally considered an inert oxidative breakdown product of nitric oxide (NO). Whereas it has been shown that limited amounts of NO are produced during the photolysis of nitrate in aqueous solution, the photochemistry of nitrate in biological matrices such as plasma is unknown. We hypothesized that thiols, which are ubiquitously present in biological systems, may significantly enhance NO-quantum yields from nitrate photolysis. Exposure of fresh human plasma to high-intensity UV-light resulted in NO-formation (19 +/- 3 nmol/l/min) as measured by gas phase chemiluminescence, and this signal was almost completely abolished by the removal of plasma N-oxides (2 +/- 1 nmol/l/min). Reconstitution of NOx-depleted plasma samples with a physiological concentration of nitrate, but not nitrite, restored photolytic NO-generation to values comparable to naïve plasma. Addition of the thiol-reducing agent, dithiothreitol or the sulfhydryl-bearing amino acid, L-cysteine increased NO-formation above control levels. Thiol-blockade by either N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) or mercuric chloride (HgCl2) reduced basal NO formation from 19 +/- 3 to 7 +/- 2 and 4 +/- 1 nmol/l/min, respectively. Exposure of plasma to UV-light increased NO-adduct concentrations from 18 +/- 5 to 1662 +/- 658 nmol/l. Collectively, our results show that thiols facilitate photolytic conversion of nitrate to NO and NO-adducts such as S-nitrosothiols. This may lead to substantial overestimation of the latter when photolysis-based methodologies are used for their determination. Whether this novel reaction channel also has in vivo relevance remains to be investigated.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Dec
pubmed:issn
0891-5849
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
35
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1551-9
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2003
pubmed:articleTitle
Thiols enhance NO formation from nitrate photolysis.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Pulmonary Diseases, Angiology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't