[Nitric oxide (NO)--Nobel prize in medicine and physiology for 1998].

On October 12, 1998. The Nobel Assembly announced the award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology to pharmacologists Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro, and Ferid Murad. The Nobel Committee decided to award the prize for their discoveries concerning--nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system. Nitric oxide (NO) has a key importance for vascular tonus, acts as a signal molecule in the nervous system and plays an important function in the immunological system. Nitric oxide is a multifunction molecule which controls the blood pressure, modulates gastrointestinal motility. It is produced in abnormal level intensifies septic shock and destruction of nervous tissue. NO is important in different branches of medicine. For instance NO gas has been used to reduced high blood pressure in the lung of infants. Several unknown NO applications in medicine are waiting for discovery.