Endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) has profound effects on the renal vasculature, the glomerular mesangium, and also affects renal salt excretion. EDRF stimulates guanylyl cyclases, which are thought to be heterodimers comprised of alpha and beta subunits. Two alpha and two beta isoforms have been identified thus far. However, the molecular composition of in vivo guanylyl cyclase-linked...

Altered release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor/nitric oxide (EDRF/NO) has been proposed as a final common pathway underlying the abnormal vasodilator responses to gram-negative lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin). However, mechanisms responsible for lipopolysaccharide-induced changes in EDRF/NO release from endothelial cells have not been clarified. We evaluated direct effects of Escherichia...

Nitric oxide (NO), previously known as Endothelium-Derived Relaxing Factor (EDRF) is involved in a wide range of physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms. It is synthesized endogenously by the enzymes Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) in specialized tissues from its precursor L-arginine, yielding L-citrulline as a byproduct. It is released by a family of isoenzymes, viz., the endothelial (eNOS...

For over 20 yrs it has been recognized that the vasodilator responses to many agents are mediated by the release of a vasodilator substance from endothelial cells [1]. The identity of endothelium-derived relaxant factor (EDRF) remained elusive, largely because of its short half-life, until 1987 when PALMER and eo-workers [2] were able to show that EDRF was likely to be nitric oxide (NO). Many w...

An L-arginine-dependent pathway, metabolising L-arginine to citrulline and nitrogen oxides, has been described in many cell types in different species, including man. Two subtypes of this nitric oxide synthase have been reported: a constitutive enzyme type, releasing nitric oxide after stimulation, is typically found in endothelial and neural cells; another subtype can be induced in macrophages...

The effects of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the action of basally produced endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) were investigated by measuring cGMP accumulation in single and cocultures of calf pulmonary artery endothelial cells (CPAEs) and rabbit pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (RPASMs) as a model for determining the contribution of EDRF dysfunction to altered vascular tone and react...

at Penylvania State U niersity on Feruary 3, 2013 scres.oxjournals.org/ Vascular dysfunction plays a role in most if not all cardiovascular disorders. Vascular dysfunction is defined as impaired vasodilation in response to agonists such as acetylcholine (ACh) that mediate vascular smooth muscle relaxation through release of the endothelial derived relaxing factor (EDRF) nitric oxide (NO). There...

The concept of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) put forward in 1980 by Furchgott and Zawadzki implies that nitric oxide (NO) produced by NO synthase (NOS) in the endothelium diffuses to the underlying vascular smooth muscle, where it modulates vascular tone as well as vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation by increasing cGMP formation with subsequent activation of cGMP-depen...

This study evaluates the role of N-hydroxylamine (NH2OH) in activating soluble guanylate cyclase in the mouse neuroblastoma clone N1E-115. It has been proposed that NH2OH is a putative intermediate in the biochemical pathway for the generation of nitric oxide (NO)/endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) from L-arginine. NH2OH caused a time- and concentration-dependent increase in cyclic GMP ...

Endothelial cell nitric oxide synthase (ECNOS) is a membrane-associated enzyme that generates endothelium-derived relaxing factor/nitric oxide (EDRF/NO) from L-arginine. We have suggested, from the cloning of the bovine ECNOS cDNA, that the presence of an N-myristoylation consensus sequence may impart its membrane localization since cytosolic forms of NOS do not contain such domains. To test th...