Nitrite anions comprise the largest vascular storage pool of nitric oxide (NO), provided that physiological mechanisms exist to reduce nitrite to NO. We evaluated the vasodilator properties and mechanisms for bioactivation of nitrite in the human forearm. Nitrite infusions of 36 and 0.36 micromol/min into the forearm brachial artery resulted in supra- and near-physiologic intravascular nitrite concentrations, respectively, and increased forearm blood flow before and during exercise, with or without NO synthase inhibition. Nitrite infusions were associated with rapid formation of erythrocyte iron-nitrosylated hemoglobin and, to a lesser extent, S-nitroso-hemoglobin. NO-modified hemoglobin formation was inversely proportional to oxyhemoglobin saturation. Vasodilation of rat aortic rings and formation of both NO gas and NO-modified hemoglobin resulted from the nitrite reductase activity of deoxyhemoglobin and deoxygenated erythrocytes. This finding links tissue hypoxia, hemoglobin allostery and nitrite bioactivation. These results suggest that nitrite represents a major bioavailable pool of NO, and describe a new physiological function for hemoglobin as a nitrite reductase, potentially contributing to hypoxic vasodilation.

Nitrite represents a circulating and tissue storage form of NO whose bioactivation is mediated by the enzymatic action of xanthine oxidoreductase, nonenzymatic disproportionation, and reduction by deoxyhemoglobin, myoglobin, and tissue heme proteins. Because the rate of NO generation from nitrite is linearly dependent on reductions in oxygen and pH levels, we hypothesized that nitrite would be reduced to NO in ischemic tissue and exert NO-dependent protective effects. Solutions of sodium nitrite were administered in the setting of hepatic and cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in mice. In hepatic I/R, nitrite exerted profound dose-dependent protective effects on cellular necrosis and apoptosis, with highly significant protective effects observed at near-physiological nitrite concentrations. In myocardial I/R injury, nitrite reduced cardiac infarct size by 67%. Consistent with hypoxia-dependent nitrite bioactivation, nitrite was reduced to NO, S-nitrosothiols, N-nitrosamines, and iron-nitrosylated heme proteins within 1-30 minutes of reperfusion. Nitrite-mediated protection of both the liver and the heart was dependent on NO generation and independent of eNOS and heme oxygenase-1 enzyme activities. These results suggest that nitrite is a biological storage reserve of NO subserving a critical function in tissue protection from ischemic injury. These studies reveal an unexpected and novel therapy for diseases such as myocardial infarction, organ preservation and transplantation, and shock states.

Local vasodilation in response to hypoxia is a fundamental physiologic response ensuring oxygen delivery to tissues under metabolic stress. Recent studies identify a role for the red blood cell (RBC), with hemoglobin the hypoxic sensor. Herein, we investigate the mechanisms regulating this process and explore the relative roles of adenosine triphosphate, S-nitrosohemoglobin, and nitrite as effectors. We provide evidence that hypoxic RBCs mediate vasodilation by reducing nitrite to nitric oxide (NO) and ATP release. NO dependence for nitrite-mediated vasodilation was evidenced by NO gas formation, stimulation of cGMP production, and inhibition of mitochondrial respiration in a process sensitive to the NO scavenger C-PTIO. The nitrite reductase activity of hemoglobin is modulated by heme deoxygenation and heme redox potential, with maximal activity observed at 50% hemoglobin oxygenation (P 50 ). Concomitantly, vasodilation is initiated at the P 50 , suggesting that oxygen sensing by hemoglobin is mechanistically linked to nitrite reduction and stimulation of vasodilation. Mutation of the conserved ␤93cys residue decreases the heme redox potential (ie, decreases E 1/2 ), an effect that increases nitrite reductase activity and vasodilation at any given hemoglobin saturation. These data support a function for RBC hemoglobin as an allosterically and redox-regulated nitrite reductase whose "enzyme activity" couples hypoxia to increased NO-dependent blood flow. (Blood. 2006;107:566-574)

Inorganic nitrate and nitrite from endogenous or dietary sources are metabolized in vivo to nitric oxide (NO) and other bioactive nitrogen oxides. The nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway is emerging as an important mediator of blood flow regulation, cell signaling, energetics and tissue responses to hypoxia. The latest advances in our understanding of the biochemistry, physiology and therapeutics of nitrate, nitrite and NO were discussed during a recent two-day meeting at the Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

Nitrite has now been proposed to play an important physiological role in signaling, blood flow regulation and hypoxic nitric oxide homeostasis. A recent two-day symposium at the US National Institutes of Health highlighted recent advances in the understanding of nitrite biochemistry, physiology and therapeutics.

A fundamental challenge to the study of oxidative stress responses of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is to understand how the protective host molecules are sensed and relayed to control bacilli gene expression. The genetic response of Mtb to hypoxia and NO is controlled by the sensor kinases DosS and DosT and the response regulator DosR through activation of the dormancy/NO (Dos) regulon. However, the regulatory ligands of DosS and DosT and the mechanism of signal sensing were unknown. Here, we show that both DosS and DosT bind heme as a prosthetic group and that DosS is rapidly autooxidized to attain the met (Fe 3؉ ) form, whereas DosT exists in the O 2-bound (oxy) form. EPR and UV-visible spectroscopy analysis showed that O 2, NO, and CO are ligands of DosS and DosT. Importantly, we demonstrate that the oxidation or ligation state of the heme iron modulates DosS and DosT autokinase activity and that ferrous DosS, and deoxy DosT, show significantly increased autokinase activity compared with met DosS and oxy DosT. Our data provide direct proof that DosS functions as a redox sensor, whereas DosT functions as a hypoxia sensor, and that O 2, NO, and CO are modulatory ligands of DosS and DosT. Finally, we identified a third potential dormancy signal, CO, that induces the Mtb Dos regulon. We conclude that Mtb has evolved finely tuned redox and hypoxia-mediated sensing strategies for detecting O 2, NO, and CO. Data presented here establish a paradigm for understanding the mechanism of bacilli persistence.carbon monoxide ͉ dormancy ͉ nitric oxide ͉ oxygen ͉ persistence T uberculosis (TB) is a major global health burden, and current estimates suggest that one-third of the world's population (Ϸ2 billion) is latently infected with TB (1). Latency is important largely because persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are in a state of ''drug unresponsiveness'' wherein the bacilli are resistant to existing antimycobacterial drugs. A major question in the TB field is: ''what are the mechanisms that allow Mtb to persist in human tissues for decades without replicating, to then abruptly resume growth and cause disease?'' Addressing that question is essential to the development of effective therapeutic intervention strategies. Recent evidence implicates NO as an environmental trigger of mycobacterial persistence (2-5). The latter findings are particularly interesting in light of the fact that inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and therefore NO production is crucial for protection of mice against Mtb (6), and that human macrophages in Mtb-infected tissues express iNOS (2, 7). Another factor associated with latent TB is hypoxia (8). The role of oxygen tension in TB is receiving wide attention, especially because it was demonstrated that rapid withdrawal of oxygen is lethal to Mtb, whereas a gradual depletion allows time for adaptation and bacterial survival (8). Interestingly, a significant overlap exists between the gene expression profiles of Mtb cells treated with NO and that of bacilli cultured under hypoxic conditions (3-5). ...

Reactive oxygen species and NO-derived oxidizing, nitrosating and nitrating products mediate diverse cell signaling and pathologic processes in cardiovascular, pulmonary, and neurodegenerative diseases (1, 2). These reactive inflammatory mediators chemically modify carbohydrates, DNA bases, amino acids, and unsaturated fatty acids to form oxidized, nitrosated and nitrated derivatives. For example, accumulation of inflammatory-induced protein tyrosine nitration products represents a shift from the physiological signal-transducing actions of NO to an oxidative, nitrative, and potentially pathogenic pathway (1).Recently, it has been reported that nitration products of unsaturated fatty acids (nitroalkenes) are formed via NO-dependent oxidative reactions (3-5). These derivatives were initially viewed to be, like nitrotyrosine, a "footprint" of NO-dependent redox reactions (3, 6). More recently, we have observed that nitrolinoleate (LNO 2 ) 7 mediates pluripotent cell signaling actions, since it induces relaxation of phenylephrine-preconstricted rat aortic rings, inhibits thrombin-induced Ca 2ϩ elevations and aggregation of human platelets, and attenuates human neutrophil superoxide generation, degranulation, and integrin expression. These cell responses are mediated by both cGMP-and cAMP-dependent and -independent mechanisms (7-9).LNO 2 positional isomers, including 9-, 10-, 12-, and 13-nitro-9,12-cis-octadecadienoic acids, have been identified as free acids in human plasma and red blood cells and as esterified components of plasma lipoproteins and red blood cell membranes (10). In addition, plasma and red cell free and esterified nitrooleate (OA-NO 2 , isomers 9-and 10-nitro-9-cis-octadecenoic acid) was also identified in healthy human blood (11).Current knowledge indicates that enzymatically oxidized unsaturated fatty acid-derived products, such as prostaglandins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes, epoxyeicosatrienoic acids, hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids, lipoxins, and resolvins serve as lipid mediators or autacoids. These signaling mediators act within a local microenvironment to orchestrate both physiological and pathological events, including platelet aggregation, constriction of vascular smooth muscle, neonatal development, wound healing, and resolution of inflammation (12, 13). In this context, endogenous nitrated fatty acid derivatives, such as * This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants HL068878, HL075397, and S06GM08248 (to Y. E. C.), HL70146 (to R. P. P.), and HL58115 and HL64937 (to B. A. F.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. □ S The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Table S1, Fig. 1, and Movie 1. 1 Supported by American Diabetes Association Grant JFA 7-05-JF-12. 2 These authors contributed equally to this work. 3 Supported by the postdoctoral f...

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