[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 23-Mar-2011 [ |
E-mail Share Share ]  Contact: Kathryn Claiborn Journal of
Clinical Investigation  Why salad helps you say yes to 'NO'
Disorders of the circulatory system- vascular diseases- are
common in the developed world, and can lead to heart attacks,
strokes and even death. However, treatments for these disorders,
such as bypass surgery and angioplasty, themselves induce
vascular injury, after which the cells of the blood vessel can
over-proliferate in a way that limits blood flow. Nitric oxide
(NO) is an important molecule that helps maintain the
contractility and health of vascular smooth muscle cells, and
multiple studies have linked vascular pathology to a decreased
level of NO. Therefore, therapies that increase the availability
of NO could help protect vascular health.  NO is synthesized
from arginine by an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase (NOS).
In new research, Brian Zuckerbraun and colleagues, of the
University of Pittsburgh, in Pittsburgh, Penns