Red blood cells generate nitric oxide from directly acting, nitrogenous vasodilators.

Human red blood cells (RBC) incubated under nitrogen with methylene blue and glucose at physiological temperature and pH can be used to test for the biotransformation of nitrogenous vasodilators to nitric oxide (NO). The NO generated was trapped as nitrosylated heme by reduced subunits (hemeII) on various hemoglobin valency species and quantified by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. It was possible to separate the various valency species of hemoglobin present in the mixture as (alpha 2 + beta 2)2, (alpha 2 + beta 3+)2, (alpha 3 + beta 2+)2, or (alpha 3 + beta 3+)2 by isoelectric focusing (IEF) unless cyanide (from nitroprusside) or azide was present in the mixture. These anions bind tenaciously to oxidized subunits (hemeIII) and prevent the separation of the various species by IEF. The fully oxidized tetramer, (alpha 3 + beta 3+)2, does not bind NO, but the other three species have hemeII units which can be nitrosylated. In the absence of cyanide or azide the valency species could be separated by IEF, and it was possible to quantify the degree of nitrosylation on each individual species. The various agents tested (nitrite, glyceryl trinitrate, hydroxylamine, hydralazine, nitroprusside, and azide) produced different patterns of valency species and degrees of nitrosylation of hemeII. When hemeIII ligands were present or in cases of very low yields, it was still possible to quantify the total concentration of NO-hemeII in the mixture. Thus, the method could still be used to test for NO formation. All of the so-called NO vasodilators tested yielded detectable amounts of NO in the system.