FROM BEDSIDE TO THE BENCH AND BACK - NITRIC-OXIDE AND THE CUTIS

When the discoverer of dynamite (trinitrotoluene [TNT]), Alfred Nobel, was prescribed nitroglycerin for angina in 1895, he was certainly tak en aback. Almost a century later, organic nitrates and their gaseous m etabolic end product, nitric oxide (NO), were implicated in a vast arr ay of biologically diverse activities.(1) About 10 years ago, a series of discoveries from different avenues of research converged on NO, th rusting it into the limelight as a neurotransmitter, vasodilator, toxi n, and modulator of immune function and inflammation.(2) Nitric oxide has thus managed to capture the interest of scientists from a number o f fields and holds center stage attention. Interest in NO among dermat ologists has been slow to appear, however, and the literature on NO wi th respect to the skin is sparse when compared with the steep escalati on in the number of articles published generally on NO since 1987 (fig ure 1).