Abstract
Nitrite, long considered a biologically inert metabolite of nitric oxide (NO) oxidation, is now accepted as a physiological storage pool of NO that can be reduced to bioactive NO in hypoxic conditions to mediate a spectrum of physiological responses in blood and tissue. This graphical review will provide a broad overview of the role of nitrite in physiology, focusing on its formation and reduction to NO as well as its regulation of the mitochondrion—an emerging subcellular target for its biological actions in tissues.
Highlights
Long considered a biologically inert metabolite of nitric oxide (NO) oxidation, is accepted as a physiological storage pool of NO that can be reduced to bioactive NO in hypoxic conditions to mediate a spectrum of physiological responses in blood and tissue
For hemoglobin (Hb), the rate of this reaction is regulated by the allosteric structural transition of the protein from its R to T state, such that the maximal rate of Hbcatalyzed NO2À reduction occurs around the p50 of the protein (26 mmHg) [17]
Mb-dependent NO2À reduction has been implicated in the protective effects of NO2À after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in the heart as well as in vasodilation [18,19]
Summary
Nitrite: A physiological store of nitric oxide and modulator of mitochondrial function$ Mb-dependent NO2À reduction has been implicated in the protective effects of NO2À after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in the heart as well as in vasodilation [18,19]. Nitrite reduction by these enzymes with differing oxygen affinities, tissue distribution and rates of reduction, ensures NO generation and nitrosative modification of target proteins over a wide range of physiological hypoxia in the cell [1].
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