NicOx: Say NO for drugs
OXFORD - Nitric oxide's properties as both an intracellular and intercellular chemical messenger have long been identified as having diverse therapeutic potential. These include treating and preventing injury to the gastrointestinal tract, reducing inflammation, regulating blood pressure, treating stroke, pain modulation, and respiratory and genito-urinary regulation. However, despite more than 70,000 published papers investigating the therapeutic properties of NO over the last few years, no one has yet managed to exploit them.
Moreover, when present in excessive amounts, NO causes major vasodilation. But very low levels of NO are equally indesirable, as this can inhibit the expression of inducible NO synthetase, reducing the positive aspects of the inflammatory process...