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BIOMEDICINE: Asthmatics Breathe Easier When It's SNO-ing
Craig Gerard
A debilitating symptom of asthma is periodic airway constriction, which impairs breathing. In his Perspective, Gerard discusses the discovery of a dehyrogease that acts as a reductase for small molecules called S-nitrothiols or SNOs. Because the SNOs regulate smooth muscle tone and seem to result in airway relaxation, reduction of SNOs by this dehydrogenase promotes airway constriction. Thus, inhibition of the dehydrogenase could prove to be useful for treating this aspect of asthma.
The author is at Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA. E-mail: craig.gerard{at}childrens.harvard.edu
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In Science Magazine
REPORTS
Loretta G. Que, Limin Liu, Yun Yan, Gregory S. Whitehead, Stephen H. Gavett, David A. Schwartz, and Jonathan S. Stamler (10 June 2005) Science308 (5728), 1618.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1108228] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »|Supporting Online Material »
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