Furchgott. Robert

Three years later Robert F Furchgott discov ered that the relaxing of smooth muscles such as blood vessel walls was stimulated by an unknown substance produced in the lining of the blood vessels (the endothelium) He called this substance the endothelium-dependent relaxing factor or EDRF and in 1986 showed that EDRF was NO Louis J Ignarro reached the same conclusion at about the same time Further support was provided by Salvador Moncada who showed that endothelial cells did in deed produce NO and that the l arginine to l citrulline conversion was responsible... 

Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, and Ferid Murad Ph y siology / Med icine Nitric oxide as a signaling molecule... 

Cyclic GMP (= cGMP) (cyclic nucleotide) Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro Ferid Murad (USA, Nobel Prize, Physiology/ Medicine, 1998, NO, cGMP)... 

Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, and Ferid Murad... 

The Robert F. Furchgott Center for Neural and Behavioral Science... 

For many years Robert F. Furchgott (1916- ), at the SUNY ITealth Science Center in Brooklyn, had investigated the effects of chemicals on relaxation of smooth muscle in vascular tissues. Relaxation of hlood vessels enhances hlood flow. In 1980 he demonstrated that cells from the iimermost layer (the endothelium) in hlood vessels produce a chemical factor necessary to relax the smooth muscles in vascular tissues. Furchgott termed it the endothehum dependent relaxing factor or EDRF. 

Research into the role played by NO in biological systems is an active area, and in 1992, Science named NO Molecule of the Year . The 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system (http //www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1998/press.html). 

US pharmacologists Robert Furchgott (1916-2009) and Louis Ignarro (1941- ) demonstrate the importance of nitric oxide as a signal molecule in the blood vascular system. 

Professor Robert F. Furchgott (1916-2009), State University of New York, Brooklyn Professor Louis J. Ignarro (b. 1941), University of California at Los Angeles Professor Ferid Murad (b. 1936), University of Texas, Dallas. 

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