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Non-enzymatic nitric oxide (NO) generation via the reduction of nitrate and nitrite ions, along with remarkably high levels of nitrate ions in skeletal muscle, have been recently described. Skeletal muscle nitrate storage may be critical for maintenance of NO homeostasis in healthy ageing and nitrate supplementation may be useful for treatment of specific pathophysiologies as well as enhancing normal functions.

The production of the redox-active signaling molecule, NO, has long been associated with interactions between microbes and their host plants. Emerging evidence now suggests that specific NO signatures and cognate patterns of PHYTOGLOBIN1 (PHYTOGB1) expression, a key regulator of cellular NO homeostasis, may help determine either symbiosis or pathogenicity.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule implicated in numerous physiological and pathological conditions. NO homeostasis is crucial to its proper functions and misregulation of NO production is implicated in a large number of pathologies. The effect of NO depends on the cell microenvironment as well as its concentration, spatial, and temporal constraints. Thus, the visualization and monitoring of NO in living systems would be valuable for understanding the origin, activities, and biological effects of NO. This review focuses on organic small-molecule fluorescent probes for selective detection and imaging of endogenous NO in vitro and in vivo. The progress suggests that fluorescence imaging is a vital and rapidly technology for real-time detection of NO in biological system.

[EN] After 30 years of intensive work, nitric oxide (NO) has just started to be characterized as a relevant regulatory molecule on plant development and responses to stress. Its reactivity as a free radical determines its mode of action as an inducer of posttranslational modifications of key target proteins through cysteine S-nitrosylation and tyrosine nitration. Many of the NO-triggered regulatory actions are exerted in tight coordination with phytohormone signaling. This review not only summarizes and updates the information accumulated on how NO is synthesized, sensed, and transduced in plants but also makes emphasis on controversies, deficiencies, and misconceptions that are hampering our present knowledge on the biology of NO in plants. The development of noninvasive accurate tools for the endogenous NO quantitation as well as the implementation of genetic approaches that overcome misleading pharmacological experiments will be critical for getting significant advances in better knowledge of NO homeostasis and regulatory actions in plants., Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Grant/Award Numbers: BIO2014-56067-P and BIO2017-82945-P; Government of Spain MINECO, Grant/Award Numbers: BIO2017-82945-P and BIO2014-56067-P

Background: There are now indisputable health benefits of nitrite when administered in a clinical setting for specific diseases. Most of the published reports identify the production of nitric oxide (NO) as the mechanism of action for nitrite. Basic science as well as clinical studies demonstrates nitrite and/or nitrate can restore NO homeostasis as an endothelium independent source of NO that may be a redundant system for endogenous NO production. Nitrate must first be reduced to nitrite by oral commensal bacteria and then nitrite further reduced to NO along the physiological oxygen gradient. Despite decades of rigorous research on its safety and efficacy as a curing agent, sodium nitrite is still regarded by many as a toxic undesirable food additive. However, research within the biomedical science community has revealed enormous therapeutic benefits of nitrite that is currently being developed as novel therapies for conditions associated with nitric oxide insufficiency. This review will highlight the fundamental biochemistry of nitrite and nitrate in human physiology and provide evidence that nitrite and nitrate be considered essential nutrients. Foods or diets enriched with nitrite can have profound positive health benefits. Keywords: nitrite, nitrate, nitric oxide, curing, nutrition, epidemiology, cardiovascular, cancer, diet, nitrosamines, antioxidants

It is becoming increasingly clear that many diseases are characterized or associated with perturbations in nitric oxide (NO) production/signaling. Therapeutics or strategies designed to restore normal NO homeostasis will likely have broad application and utility. This highly complex and multistep pathway for NO production and subsequent target activation provides many steps in the endogenous pathway that may be useful targets for drug development for cardiovascular disease, antimicrobial, cancer, wound healing, etc. This article will summarize known strategies that are currently available or in development for enhancing NO production or availability in the human body. Each strategy will be discussed including exogenous sources of NO, use of precursors to promote NO production and downstream pathways affected by NO production with advantages and disadvantages highlighted for each. Development of NO-based therapeutics is and will continue to be a major focus of biotech, academia as well as pharmaceutical companies. Application of safe and effective strategies will certainly transform health and disease.