N omega-hydroxy-L-arginine, a reactional intermediate in nitric oxide biosynthesis, induces cytostasis in human and murine tumor cells.

Conversion of L-arginine to L-citrulline and nitric oxide (NO) by NO synthase induced in the murine EMT-6 cells resulted in the release of a large amount of the stable reactional intermediate N omega-hydroxy-L-arginine into the extracellular medium. We have prepared [3H]N omega-hydroxy-L-arginine biosynthetically, and shown that, after its uptake, this molecule can induce cytostasis in NO synthase-deficient P-815 and U-937 tumor cells. This long-lived intermediate could behave as a supplier of NO or other toxic molecules in cell-cell interactions.