NITRIC-OXIDE, NO, AN INTERCELLULAR MESSENGER

Physiology, biochemistry, and analytical chemistry in the last few years have extensively studied NO, a colorless gas of relatively high stability, which, however, in physiological media has a lifetime of only a few seconds. According to new findings NO. which is formed, so to speak, from arginine in a short cut in the urea cycle, plays a very important role, for example, in the control of processes in the brain, of peristalsis in the intestine, and of erectile organs. Recently a specific sensor for the measurement of the NO content in blood vessels was described.