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Previous Volume 353:730-731 August 18, 2005 Number 7 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Aristotle said, "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous." Nitric oxide is one such marvel. Few could have predicted that one atom of nitrogen and one of oxygen would together be a fundamental regulator of the human body. Among the endogenous defenses against vascular injury, inflammation, thrombosis, and atherosclerosis, nitric oxide assumes the dominant role. Its release from the endothelium counters the activation and adhesion of leukocytes, limits platelet aggregation and thrombus formation, and maintains the vascular smooth muscle in a nonproliferative state, thereby maintaining the integrity of blood vessels and guarding against adverse vascular remodeling. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Divisions of Cardiac Surgery (S.V.) and Nephrology (P.A.M.), St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto, Toronto.

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