The Antioxidant Reactions of Nitric Oxide

Nitric oxide may also be an antioxidant by virtue of the feet that it can directly inhibit NADPH oxidase and thus prevent superoxide production (Clancy etaJ., 1992). This inhibition was reported to be independent of the reaction between nitric oxide and superoxide, which might be expected to be pro-oxidant (see Section 2.2.3). 

Mouse peritoneal macrophages that have been activated to produce nitric oxide by 7-interferon and lipopolysac-charide were shown to oxidize LDL less readily than unactivated macrophages. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in the same model was shown to enhance LDL oxidation (Jessup etal., 1992 Yates a al., 1992). It has recently been demonstrated that nitric oxide is able to inhibit lipid peroxidation directly within LDL (Ho etal., 1993c). Nitric oxide probably reacts with the propagating peroxyl radicals thus terminating the chain of lipid peroxidation. The rate constant for the reaction between nitric oxide and peroxyl radicals has recently been determined to be 1-3 X10 M s (Padmaja and Huie, 1993). This 

---