Is nitric oxide good or bad for the body?

[fog37]

Hello,

I am learning about cellular respiration, and ATP. I was reading how nitric oxide (NO) can inhibit an important enzyme that is part of the electron transport chain and lead to less ATP production. That seems to give a bad rap to NO. But I also read how good NO is for longevity and blood circulation...

Does anyone have some clarifications to offer on this topic? Is NO good or bad? It seems bad if it affects ATP production. I am confused.

Thank you!

 

[jim mcnamara]

It would help to give you a better answer if you let us know where you got the information you cited.

1. I can say is that there have been studies (random controlled trials) on several different aspects of Nitrous Oxide use in medical and dental procedures.
Try this google search: random controlled trial on nitrous oxide
There is one trial now on for treatment of cardiovascular disease which has really positive results.

2. There is no perfect good or bad answer to a lot of medical questions. Why? Because circumstances surrounding a proposed treatment make some options completely unacceptable, like patient allergies/reactions to medications and anesthetics. I think that is what you are seeing.

3. Unless the study is of very high quality (usually an RCT (Random Controlled Trial)) you really cannot derive anything more than a good maybe about the conclusions. Sometimes the lower quality study is all we have. That can leave the reader in exactly the quandary you seem to have.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

I can say is that there have been studies (random controlled trials) on several different aspects of Nitrous Oxide use in medical and dental procedures.

You seem to be confusing nitric oxide (NO), an important biological signaling molecule, with nitrous oxide (N₂O), an anesthetic.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Yes, I did mix things. Thank you. I did not get what what NO was supposed to be obviously.

 

[Fra]

Does anyone have some clarifications to offer on this topic? Is NO good or bad? It seems bad if it affects ATP production. I am confused.

As with most things in a complex living system its about balance and WHERE in the body they appear.. And as with most drugs, they are good in some cases in the right dose, while they can be toxic during other conditions. So one can say that NO is categoritcally good or bad, this is the wrong question.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_functions_of_nitric_oxide

NO is a known potent vasodilator, and exist both naturally in the body (autoregulation from mechanoreceptors produce NO locally), and its also released from nitroglycerin which is a potent vasodilator drug typically used with ischemia. So nitroglycerin may be "good" if you have an ischemic attack, but not otherwise!

There also seems to be toxic effects, but they are dose dependent.
The Toxicology of Inhaled Nitric Oxide
https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/59/1/5/1658774

/Fredrik