How does vitamin C affect vascular function?
A. Vascular function is regulated mainly by a molecule called nitric oxide, which is produced in the endothelial cells that line the arteries. Endothelial cells contain an enzyme called endothelial nitric oxide synthase. When this enzyme produces nitric oxide, the blood vessels dilate. Nitric oxide was originally called endothelium-derived relaxing factor or EDRF, and the discovery of nitric oxide as EDRF led to a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1998. Superoxide, an oxygen radical whose existence was postulated in the 1930s by Linus Pauling, can also be produced in the arterial wall. It inactivates nitric oxide and reacts with it to form another compound called peroxynitrite, which is a nasty chemical that can cause oxidative and “nitrative” damage. Ascorbate has been postulated to scavenge superoxide radicals, thereby preserving nitric oxide and its vasodilatory effects. We tested that idea by giving vitamin C to patients with heart disease who had impaired blood vessel relaxation. We were
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