DETECTION OF ENDOTHELIAL CELL-DERIVED NITRIC-OXIDE - CURRENT TRENDS AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

The vascular endothelium is a significant site of NO release that inhi bits cellular adhesion and maintains a non-thrombogenic surface. Use o f newly described technology suggests for the first time that the maxi mal release of NO induced by cNOS and iNOS activation may be quite sim ilar, implying that it is the duration of NO release and not the conce ntration of NO produced from stimulated endothelial cells that account s for the different biological activities of the enzymes. The respecti ve roles of cNOS and iNOS must be carefully evaluated since both enzym es may have potent biological effects at local sites of production.