Original ContributionNitric oxide bioactivity of traditional Chinese medicines used for cardiovascular indications
Section snippets
NO products/metabolite determination
All TCMs were obtained from a local oriental herb and acupuncture shop in Houston, Texas, USA. The TCMs were in their native natural and unrefined form (Fig. 1). Using a mortar and pestle, we ground the herbs into a powder and then placed them in a blender for 10 min at high speed. One gram of powder was then dissolved in 5 ml of PBS, pH 7.4, and mixed vigorously for several minutes. Some of the powders were soluble in buffer, others were suspensions. For nitrite and nitrate analysis,
Results
A wealth of the literature has revealed several TCMs used primarily for cardiovascular indications, from coronary artery disease to acute myocardial infarction and hypertension. The names and indications of the TCMs used in the study are reported in Table 1 and pictures of their native forms used in this study are provided in Fig. 1. This is not meant as a comprehensive assessment of all the TCMs, but was a convenience sample of common TCMs used for cardiovascular indications available over the
Discussion
The results from this study reveal that traditional Chinese medicines that have been used for thousands of years have profound NO bioactivity primarily through enhancement of endothelium-derived NO but also due to the nitrate–nitrite reduction pathways to NO. Many contain nitrite and particularly high concentrations of nitrate in the extracts given to patients. Many of the described benefits of these ancient medications are likely to be a result of their inherent nitrite and/or nitrate content
Acknowledgment
N.S.B. serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Trivita, Inc.
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