Mechanisms and clinical applications of nitric oxide in neonatal diseases

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) is a vascular endothelium-derived relaxing factor.NO inhalation therapy is widely used in the field of neonatology.When NO acts as selective pulmonary vasodilation,it can reduce pulmonary arterial pressure and improve oxygenation.When NO serves as a major regulator of cerebral vasomotor factor,it may have physiological and pathological impact in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.So NO has a wide range of applications in persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn,bronchopulmonary dysplasia,hypoxia ischemic encephalopathy.With the recently in-depth study of NO,its biological role has more and more clinical attention in the field of neonatology and has broad valid prospects.However,NO has some side effects which still have some controversial aspects of the application in premature,especially in very low birth weight children.The article focused on the mechanism and clinical applications of NO in the neonatal disease. Key words: Nitric oxide; Inhalation therapy; Infant, newborn