Ignarro’s spectral analysis
| Louis Ignarro reported that EDRF relaxed blood vessels. He also identified EDRF as a molecule by using spectral analysis of hemoglobin. When hemoglobin was exposed to EDRF, maximum absorbance moved to a new wave-length; and exposed to NO, exactly the same shift in absorbance occurred! EDRF was identical with NO. A new principle for signalling between human cells was discovered.
Spectrophotometry |
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Hemoglobin (yellow) exposed to endothelial cells that were stimulated to produce EDRF (green) |
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Hemoglobin (yellow) directly exposed to NO (green)
The shift of absorption curves is identical, hence EDRF is NO |
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