Nitrite and nitrate chemical biology and signalling.

ABSTRACT: Inorganic nitrate (NO₃ ^- ), nitrite (NO₂ ^- ) and NO are nitrogenous species with a diverse and interconnected chemical biology. The formation of NO from nitrate and nitrite via a reductive 'nitrate-nitrite-NO' pathway and resulting in vasodilation is now an established complementary route to traditional NOS-derived vasodilation. Nitrate, found in our diet and abundant in mammalian tissues and circulation, is activated via reduction to nitrite predominantly by our commensal oral microbiome. The subsequent in vivo reduction of nitrite, a stable vascular reserve of NO, is facilitated by a number of haem-containing and molybdenum-cofactor proteins. NO generation from nitrite is enhanced during physiological and pathological hypoxia and in disease sta

SUBMITTER: DeMartino AW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6295445 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature