Nitric oxide joins oxygen and carbon dioxide as third key gas in human respiration.

2002 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Investigators from Duke University Medical Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have demonstrated that red blood cells play a crucial and active role in responding to the oxygen needs of tissues and that furthermore, the chemical nitric oxide is key to this process, leading the researchers to conclude that the chemical should be considered as the third major blood gas - along with oxygen and carbon dioxide - to be monitored in patients.

In their studies, the scientists tested the responses of the circulatory systems of human subjects in specialized chambers where the scientists could control atmospheric pressure and gas concentrations. The scientists raised or lowered oxygen levels in the chambers and analyzed the response of the subjects' blood cells. From such analyses, the scientists demonstrated that nitric oxide in the blood cells is an active regulatory molecule that causes the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells to undergo subtle shape …