Nitric oxide discovery Nobel Prize winners
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Historical and biographical narrative review with no original experimental or clinical data.
OpenAlex W2948759588 · doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehz361
What was done
This historical and biographical review chronicles the lives and research milestones of pharmacologists Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, and Ferid Murad, who shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for identifying nitric oxide (NO) as a biological signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.
What was found
The abstract details key historical milestones without quantitative empirical data. Furchgott demonstrated in 1980 that acetylcholine-induced vasodilation required an intact endothelium, coining the term endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF). Murad discovered that nitroglycerine activates cyclic guanosine monophosphate to expand blood vessels and hypothesized gas-mediated cellular regulation. In 1986, Ignarro and Furchgott independently identified EDRF as nitric oxide, establishing the first evidence of a gas serving as a cellular signaling molecule.
Why it matters
The discovery revolutionized cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology, demonstrating that a gaseous free radical can act as an endogenous messenger and establishing pathways for therapies targeting vascular tone and erectile dysfunction.
Limits
The article is a descriptive, historical retrospective containing no new experimental measurements, clinical trials, or systematic synthesis of evidence.
Cited by
- supports Dr. Louis Ignarro won the Nobel Prize for his role in discovering nitric oxide.