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NO adducts in mammalian red blood cells: too much or too little?

Nature Medicine volume 9, pages 481–482 (2003)Cite this article

To the editor

Our findings originate from our recently completed study of tissue nitros(yl)ation products in different animal species and in humans. In an earlier study on the systemic effects of infused NO in humans2, we noted that basal nitroso levels in whole blood, which we attributed to originate from RBCs, were considerably lower than those reported for rats3. We sought to address the issue of NO content in RBCs specifically, using a refined chemiluminescence-based technique that has been extensively characterized and validated in our laboratories4. Despite similarities between our approach and that of McMahon et al. in the detection of NO (both were by chemiluminescence in the gas phase, for example), there are significant differences in sample processing: where we use redox-based denitrosation by tri-iodide/iodide mixtures in glacial acetic acid, McMahon et al. used a photochemical reactor with high-intensity ultraviolet light to cleave NO from the nitroso and nitrosyl species. Whereas the former method does not always provide 100% recovery of NO adducts, the latter could conceivably give rise to nonspecific light-initiated chemical reactions from different nitrogen-containing compounds as a result of the extremely high temperatures, light intensities and individual photon energies delivered during photolysis.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to T. Bunton, H. Hanley and H. Price for skillful technical assistance. This work was supported in part by US National Institutes of Health grant HL69029 (to M.F.) and funds from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ra 969/1-1 to T.R.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

    Tienush Rassaf, Nathan S. Bryan, Ronald E. Maloney, Vicky Specian & Martin Feelisch

  2. Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Pulmonary Diseases & Angiology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany

    Malte Kelm

  3. Biophysics Research Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

    Balaraman Kalyanaraman

  4. Department of Physics, Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

    Juan Rodriguez

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Correspondence to Martin Feelisch.

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Rassaf, T., Bryan, N., Maloney, R. et al. NO adducts in mammalian red blood cells: too much or too little?. Nat Med 9, 481–482 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0503-481

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