In mammals, treatment with low doses of nitrite has a cytoprotective effect in ischemia/reperfusion events, as a result of nitric oxide formation and S-nitrosation of proteins. Interestingly, anoxia-tolerant lower vertebrates possess an intrinsic ability to increase intracellular nitrite concentration during anoxia in tissues with high myoglobin and mitochondria content, such as the heart. Here...

Nitric oxide (NO) may limit myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by slowing the mitochondrial metabolism. We examined whether rat heart contains catalysts potentially capable of reducing nitrite to NO during an episode of regional myocardial ischemia produced by temporary coronary artery occlusion. In intact Sprague-Dawley rats, a 15-min coronary occlusion lowered the nitrite concentration of...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis places an enormous burden on the welfare of humanity. Its ability to grow and its pathogenicity are linked to sulfur metabolism, which is considered a fertile area for the development of antibiotics, particularly because many of the sulfur acquisition steps in the bacterium are not found in the host. Sulfite reduction is one such mycobacterium-specific step and is the...

Nitric oxide (NO) appears to play an important role in the regulation of thrombosis and hemostasis by inhibiting platelet function. The discovery of NO generation by reduction of nitrite (NO₂⁻) and nitrate (NO₃⁻) in mammals has led to increased attention to these anions with respect to potential beneficial effects in cardiovascular diseases. We have previously shown that nitrite anions at 0.1 µ...

Ruminal methane production is among the main targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation for the animal agriculture industry. Many compounds have been evaluated for their efficacy to suppress enteric methane production by ruminal microorganisms. Of these, nitrate as an alternative hydrogen sink has been among the most promising, but it suffers from variability in efficacy for reasons that are n...

Nitrite reacts with deoxyhemoglobin to generate nitric oxide (NO). This reaction has been proposed to contribute to nitrite-dependent vasodilation in vivo and potentially regulate physiological hypoxic vasodilation. Paradoxically, while deoxyhemoglobin can generate NO via nitrite reduction, both oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin potently scavenge NO. Furthermore, at the very low O(2) tensions r...

The influence of light, dark, and ambient CO(2) on nitrate assimilation in 8- to 9-day-old barley seedlings was studied. To develop the photosynthetic apparatus fully, the seedlings were grown in nitrogen-free Hoagland solution for 5 days in darkness followed by 3 days in continuous light.The seedlings reduced nitrate and nitrite in both light and dark, although more slowly in darkness. The slo...