Detection of nitros(yl)ated metabolites of nitric oxide (NO) in vivo by gas-phase chemiluminescence assay.

There are several methods utilized for detection of nitric oxide (NO) and its various metabolites in biological systems. These include spectrophotometric analysis, high performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrophotometry, electro-paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and gas-phase chemiluminscence. Of these, the gas-phase chemiluminescence technique is perhaps the most sensitive, with a limit of detection in the femtomole range. Furthermore, as there are a number of commercially available NO analyzers, it is possible to directly compare results from different laboratories using this technique. Described in this unit is a group-specific derivatization approach with gas-phase chemiluminscence detection to profile NO metabolites in vivo.