BACKGROUND Fractional exhaled nitric oxide is elevated in allergen-provoked asthma. The cellular and molecular source of the elevated fractional exhaled nitric oxide is, however, uncertain. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether fractional exhaled nitric oxide is associated with increased airway epithelial inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in allergen-provoked asthma. METHODS Fractional exha...

The extract of Siegesbeckia pubescens herb and its chemical constituents were tested for the ability to inhibit lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in BV2 microglia. The methanol extract and the 90% MeOH fraction of S. pubescens effectively attenuated lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production. Several steps of chromatography yielded eight ent-kaurane diterpene...

Connexin 43 (Cx43), which is highly expressed in the heart and especially in cardiomyocytes, interferes with the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms. Conversely, Cx43 gene expression is down-regulated by nitric oxide derived from the inducible NOS. Thus, a complex interplay between Cx43 and NOS expression appears to exist. As cardiac mitochondria are supposed to contain a NOS, we...

BACKGROUND Increased oxidative stress and dysregulation of nitric oxide have been implicated in the cardiotoxicity of doxorubicin (DOX), a commonly used antitumor agent. Peroxynitrite is a reactive oxidant produced from nitric oxide and superoxide in various forms of cardiac injury. Using a novel metalloporphyrinic peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst, FP15, and nitric oxide synthase inhibitors...

Background/Aims: To investigate the role of endothelial dysfunction on left ventricular remodeling in patients with chronic kidney disease and to evaluate the correlation between endothelial dysfunction and left ventricular remodeling. Methods: Seventy-three patients with chronic kidney disease as study-group and thirty healthy volunteers as control-group were enrolled in the present study. All...

Nitric oxide (NO) is a colorless gas at room temperature and one of the simplest molecules known, yet it has been implicated in a wide variety of regulatory mechanisms ranging from vasodilatation and blood pressure control to neurotransmission. It is also involved in nonspecific immunity and participates in the complex mechanism of tissue injury as a major mediator of inflammatory processes and...

Fire sweeps through the brush. In its aftermath, dormant seeds of chaparral, savanna, heath, and scrub begin to germinate in response to a “go” signal in the smoke. Even though smokesoaked water kills the seeds, in diluted form it triggers their development. The chemical cues are nitrogen oxides (1). This lesson of death and life in the field mirrors comparable events within us, where reactive ...

Nitric oxide production by endothelial cells may have important consequences for the development of airway inflammation as well as for airway obstruction. The present study investigated whether the expression of vascular inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in human bronchi differs between asthmatic and healthy subjects, and whether it shows a circ...