My
Diploma Thesis
My diploma thesis' topic is "Nitric Oxide and Cancer". As you guess it
is very interesting topic. In fact in my thesis we focused on the
relation between nitric oxide and cancer. But as a candidate Evo-Devo
scientist I especially interested on nitric oxide in the ancient times
whics is a very small part of the thesis.
Nitric oxide is a small, gaseous, paramagnetic radical with a high
affinity for interaction with ferrous hemoproteins such as sGC and Hb.
Nitric oxide is produced in macrophages, neutrophils, endothelial cells
and in the cerebellum. Nitric oxide was identified as EDRF and acts not
only as a potent endogenous vasodilator, but also has a role in
inflammation, thrombosis, platelet adhesion, neutrophil aggregation,
regulation of blood pressure, neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity
in the brain. This review paper will discuss nitric oxide chemistry,
biosynthesis and measurement.
The discovery of nitric oxide (NO) was the greatest achievement of
vascular biology in the later part of the 20th century. The discoverers
were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Publications on
all aspects of NO run into thousands. Nevertheless, the fact of the
matter is that we have not yet been
able to harness our knowledge of NO to provide radical improvements in
clinical practice. This partly because the chemistry and biological
actions of NO are remarkably complicated for such a simple molecule. The
ubiquitous nature and multiple actions of NO make targeting individual
organ systems difficult. Having discovered NO, we must next learn to
manipulate its metabolism to combat disease. To do this, we must
completely understand its role in the living organism.
Originally described in mammalian systems, is now known to be a
ubiquitous signalling molecule across species. An iNOS specific to fish
has been described.NO is also a signalling molecule in insects,marine
sponges, myxomycetes, and bacteria. In plants, NO induces leaf expansion
and root growth and protects against environmental and infection related
stresses in a manner similar to human macrophages. These observations
suggest that NO is a signalling molecule with a very ancient history,
serving biological functions in the most primitive organisms. However
molecular oxygen is a signalling molecule instead of nitrik oxide in
C.elegans.
I think this must be clarify in the future that why C.elegans
prefer to use molecular oxygen. Is there any more organism who are using
molecular oxygen or other molecules? The answer is not clear but there
are several articles about Nitric oxide as a signal molecule and there
are hunders of organisms (vertebrates, invertebrates) which are using
nitric oxide. May be we have to read all datas again and we should put
the real position of molecular oxygen in to reviews about signalling
system. May be it is more important than nitric oxide. Who knows?
