Cell signaling by nitric oxide.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review and mechanism-based reasoning with no original human data.
What was done
Narrative review describing the mechanisms, chemical pathways, and protein targets involved in cell signaling by nitric oxide (NO) in mammalian physiology.
What was found
No quantitative numbers are reported in the abstract. The paper details that nitric oxide acts as a free-radical signaling molecule via covalent chemical modification of protein targets, with specificity determined by NO concentration, the intracellular milieu, and whether signaling occurs directly or via secondary NO-derived species.
Why it matters
It highlights a foundational paradigm shift in cell biology, establishing that physiological signaling can occur via covalent chemical modification rather than solely through noncovalent receptor-ligand interactions.
Limits
This is a narrative, mechanism-focused review without original experimental datasets, systematic search methodology, sample size, or clinical outcome data.
Cited by
- supports The discovery of nitric oxide's biological signaling mechanisms won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.