Nitric oxide radical (NO) is a signaling molecule involved in several physiological and
pathological processes and a new nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway has emerged as a
physiological alternative to the" classic" pathway of NO formation from L-arginine. Since the
late 1990s, it has become clear that nitrite can be reduced back to NO under hypoxic/anoxic
conditions and exert a significant cytoprotective action in vivo under challenging conditions.
To reduce nitrite to NO, mammalian cells can use different metalloproteins that are present …