Third gasotransmitter garners interest
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Twenty years ago, three US researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide (NO) as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system. Until then, NO had been looked upon mainly as an air pollutant, and its identification as a signalling molecule was particularly surprising as chemically it was totally unlike any other signalling molecule known at the time. The researchers discovered that NO was rapidly converted to nitrite and nitrate within the body: suddenly, the use of nitrates to treat conditions such as angina made a lot more sense.