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Updated: May 17, 2026

Measuring Nitrite and Nitrate, Metabolites in the Nitric Oxide Pathway, in Biological Materials using the Chemiluminescence Method
Published on: December 25, 2016
Can summary nitrite+nitrate content serve as an indicator of NO synthesis intensity in body tissues?
V Yu Titov1, A V Ivanova, V A Petrov
1N. I. Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia. vtitov43@yandex.ru
Abstract:
Studies with the use of a highly specific enzymatic sensor demonstrated that, contrary to the common opinion, normally nitrate is in fact not present in the most important physiological fluids. NO metabolites in the amniotic fluid and semen are mainly presented by NO donor compounds. Therefore, the intensity of NO synthesis can be evaluated by the total content of all its metabolites, but not by the widely used summary nitrite+nitrate content.
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