Affiliations: Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: Gregorio Caimi, Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, Università di Palermo, Via del Vespro, 129 90100 Palermo, Italy. Tel.: +39 0916554406; Fax: +39 091 6554535; E-mail: gregorio.caimi@unipa.it
Abstract: We determined the concentration of nitric oxide metabolites (NO2−+NO3−), expressed as NOx, in several clinical conditions. Regarding this, we have examined 25 subjects with arterial hypertension, 41 subjects with chronic kidney disease in conservative treatment, 106 subjects with metabolic syndrome subdivided according to the presence (n = 43) or not (n = 63) of diabetes mellitus, 48 subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), 14 women with systemic sclerosis complicated with Raynaud's phenomenon, 42 dialyzed subjects and 105 young subjects with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In subjects with arterial hypertension, chronic kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, systemic sclerosis, as well as, in dialyzed and AMI subjects, we found at baseline a NOx increase. In dyalized subjects after a standard dialysis session, we observed a decrease in NOx. The increase in NOx in juvenile AMI was significantly influenced by cigarette smoking and less by cardiovascular risk factors and the extent of coronary lesions; at 3 and 12 months later than the initial event, we observed a decrease of NOx that remains significantly higher than the control group. In subjects with OSAS no difference in NOx was noted in comparison with normal controls, although their subdivision according to the apnea/hypopnea index operates a clear distinction regarding NOx concentration.
