Two-Faced Molecule

I went to a mosque yesterday for my Islamic Studies class and found an interesting story in their Muslim newspaper. The article focused on taking nitric oxide supplements that could be purchased from the mosque to improve your health since the inner lining of blood vessels use NO to signal the surrounding smooth muscle to relax, resulting in vasodilation. That might be a positive attribute of the chemical, but in the atmosphere, nitric oxide destroys ozone to produce oxygen and nitrogen dioxide. It can also lead to nitric acid rain, which is why catalytic converters have been developed in an effort to convert NO back to nitrogen and oxygen gas. In both the biological and atmospheric sense, the compound needs regulation, but the main affect of nitric oxide in the two environments is startling different. Acute excess of nitric oxide in the body can cause direct tissue toxicity and contribute to the vascular collapse associated with septic shock. Chronic expression of NO is associated with various carcinomas and inflammatory conditions including diabetes, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and ulcerative colitis. I thought it was intriguing how nitric oxide can be both a nuisance and a necessity depending on its surroundings.