Wow! eBook
Nitric Oxide: Biology and Pathobiology
Author(s): Louis J. Ignarro
- Publisher: Academic Press
- Publication Date: September 15, 2000
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 1017 pages
- ISBN-10: 0123704200
- ISBN-13: 9780123704207
Book Description
Nitric oxide (NO) is a gas that transmits signals in an organism. Signal transmission by a gas that is produced by one cell and which penetrates through membranes and regulates the function of another cell represents an entirely new principle for signaling in biological systems.
NO is a signal molecule of key importance for the cardiovascular system acting as a regulator of blood pressure and as a gatekeeper of blood flow to different organs. NO also exerts a series of other functions, such as acting a signal molecule in the nervous system and as a weapon against infections. NO is present in most living creatures and made by many different types of cells.
NO research has led to new treatments for treating heart as well as lung diseases, shock, and impotence. Scientists are currently testing whether NO can be used to stop the growth of cancerous tumors, since the gas can induce programmed cell death, apoptosis.
This book is the first comprehensive text on nitric oxide to cover all aspects–basic biology, chemistry, pathobiology, effects on various disease states, and therapeutic implications.
- Edited by Nobel Laureate Louis J. Ignarro, editor of the Academic Press journal, Nitric Oxide
- Authored by world experts on nitric oxide
- Includes an overview of basic principles of biology and chemical biology
- Covers principles of pathobiology, including the nervous system, cardiovascular function, pulmonary function, and immune defense
Editorial Reviews
Review
“… for those researchers interested in the detailed biochemistry of nitric oxide and its synthesis, the book will be a very valuable reference” –TODAY’S LIFE SCIENCE
“Louis J. Ignarro, pharmacologist in Los Angeles, participated in the quest for EDRF’s chemical nature. He performed a brilliant series of analyses and concluded in 1986, together with and independently of Robert Furchgott, that EDRF was identical to NO. The problem was solved and Furchgott’s endothelial factor identified. When Furchgott and Ignarro presented their conclusions at a conference in July 1986, it elicited an avalanche of research activities in many different laboratories around the world. This was the first discovery that a gas can act as a signal molecule in an organism.” –THE NOBEL ASSEMBLY, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE, 1998
