title: Nitrite: A Physiological Store of Nitric Oxide and Modulator of Mitochondrial Function.
abstract: Nitrite, long considered a biologically inert metabolite of nitric oxide (NO) oxidation, is now accepted as a physiological storage pool of NO that can be reduced to bioactive NO in hypoxic conditions to mediate a spectrum of physiological responses in blood and tissue. This graphical review will provide a broad overview of the role of nitrite in physiology, focusing on its formation and reduction to NO as well as its regulation of the mitochondrion- an emerging subcellular target for its biological actions in tissues.
authors.affiliation: Vascular Medicine Institute and Department of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261.
authors.forename: Sruti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shiva
keywords: hypoxia; mitochondria; nitrate; nitrite