2nd Prop, Department of Internal Medicine, Hippokrateio Hospital, Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Front Biosci (Landmark Ed). 2011 Jan 1;16(5):1873-97. doi: 10.2741/3828.
Nitric oxide (NO) exerts important protective actions on the cardiovascular system. Generated from L-arginine by the action of endothelial (or type 3) nitric oxide synthase (NOS3), NO regulates vascular tone in humans and causes endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Additionally endothelium-derived NO exerts antioxidant, antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory properties, thus playing an important role in inhibiting the atherosclerotic process. With regard to effects on platelet function, NO produced by both endothelial cells and platelets has important antithrombotic effects by decreasing platelet activation, a phenomenon which contributes importantly to the thrombotic tendency which accompanies a variety of cardiovascular disease states. Additionally, by inhibiting platelet activation, NO prevents heterotypic aggregation between platelets and monocytes, thereby reducing monocyte-platelet aggregates in the circulation which are believed to play an important pathophysiological role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. New therapeutic interventions aimed at improving NO availability have been investigated in animal as well as in vitro studies and show considerable promise, but it remains to be seen whether such therapies will be equally efficacious in humans clinically.
一氧化氮（NO）对心血管系统发挥着重要的保护作用。NO 由内皮（或 3 型）一氧化氮合酶（NOS3）从 L-精氨酸生成，调节人体血管张力，并引起内皮依赖性血管舒张。此外，内皮衍生的 NO 具有抗氧化、抗增殖和抗炎作用，因此在抑制动脉粥样硬化过程中发挥着重要作用。关于对血小板功能的影响，内皮细胞和血小板产生的 NO 通过减少血小板活化产生重要的抗血栓作用，这种现象对伴随各种心血管疾病状态的血栓倾向有重要贡献。此外，通过抑制血小板活化，NO 可防止血小板与单核细胞之间的异质聚集，从而减少循环中的单核细胞-血小板聚集物，这些聚集物被认为在动脉粥样硬化的起始和进展中发挥重要的病理生理作用。已经在动物和体外研究中研究了旨在提高 NO 可用性的新治疗干预措施，并显示出相当大的前景，但这些治疗方法在临床上对人类是否同样有效仍有待观察。
