Purpose: To review the physiologic role of nitric oxide, an unusual messenger molecule that mediates blood vessel relaxation, neurotransmission, and pathogen suppression. Data Sources: A MEDLINE se...

Nitric oxide: A physiologic messenger

Background:
Non-motor symptoms are detrimental to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Parkinson's disease patients. In this study, the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS) was used to assess the impact of the non-motor symptoms on HRQoL of Parkinson's disease patients.

Methods:
In a multicenter, international, cross sectional study on 411 Parkinson's disease patients, the NMSS was applied along with clinical (Hoehn and Yahr staging and SCOPA-Motor) and HRQoL measures (PDQ-39, and EQ-5D). Prevalence of non-motor symptoms was determined also through the NMSS. The association of NMSS and SCOPA-Motor with HRQoL measures and the differences in HRQoL scores between patients with and without non-motor symptoms in each NMSS domain were estimated by non-parametric statistics. Predictors of HRQoL were sought through multiple linear regression analyses.

Results:
Nocturia (68.4% of the sample), fatigue (65.9%), and dribbling saliva (56.7%), were the most frequent complaints. Total NMSS score: (1) showed a higher correlation coefficient (rS = 0.70) with the PDQ-39 Summary Index (SI) than SCOPA-Motor (rS = 0.58); (2) showed high-moderate correlation (rS = 0.60 − 0.38) with all PDQ-39 domains; and (3) was the best predictor of HRQoL as measured by the PDQ-39 SI. For each NMSS domain, patients with symptoms had significantly worse HRQoL scores than patients without symptoms.

Discussion:
To our knowledge, this is the first study to determine in a holistic manner the impact of the non-motor symptoms on HRQoL of Parkinson's disease patients. The results show that non-motor symptoms have, as a whole, a greater impact on HRQoL than motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms progression contributes importantly to HRQoL decline in patients with Parkinson's disease. © 2011 Movement Disorder Society

The impact of non-motor symptoms on health-related quality of life of patients with Parkinson's disease.

In retrospect, basic research in the fields of NO and cyclic GMP during the past two decades appears to have followed a logical course beginning with the findings that NO and cyclic GMP are vascular smooth muscle relaxants, that nitroglycerin relaxes smooth muscle by metabolism to NO, progressing to the discovery that mammalian cells synthesize NO, and finally the revelation that NO is a neurotransmitter mediating vasodilation in specialized vascular beds. A great deal of basic and clinical research on the physiological and pathophysiological roles of NO in cardiovascular function has been conducted since the discovery that EDRF is NO. The new knowledge on NO should enable investigators in this field to develop novel and more effective therapeutic strategies for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of numerous cardiovascular disorders. Since NO elicits a protective and beneficial action in many disease states, novel NO donor drugs for clinical use should prove to be very effective drugs for the treatment of essential hypertension, stroke, coronary artery disease, vascular complications of diabetes, impotency and other disorders involving the vascular system.

/pdf/nitric-oxide-as-a-unique-signaling-molecule-in-the-vascular-54ploot491.pdf

Nitric oxide as a unique signaling molecule in the vascular system: a historical overview

Effects of sildenafil on the relaxation of human corpus cavernosum tissue in vitro and on the activities of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase isozymes

https://www.urologic.theclinics.com/article/S0094-0143(05)00079-0/pdf

Physiology of Penile Erection and Pathophysiology of Erectile Dysfunction

The Pharmacokinetics of Intravesical and Oral Oxybutynin Chloride

We sought to determine whether the L-arginine-nitric oxide-guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) pathway, known to mediate neurostimulation-induced smooth muscle relaxation in penile tissue of rabbits and humans in vitro, is operative also in vivo Adult male dogs (n = 9) were subjected to direct electrical stimulation of the pelvic nerves to induce penile tumescence Intracavernous injection of the nitric oxide-releasing substance S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine resulted in similar tumescence Intracavernous injection of a specific inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis, NG-nitro-L-arginine, blocked pelvic nerve-stimulated tumescence, and this was partially reversed by intracavernous injection of the nitric oxide precursor L-arginine Furthermore, neurostimulated tumescence was inhibited by methylene blue, an inhibitor of cytosolic guanylate cyclase and enhanced by M&B 22948, a cGMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor These in vivo findings support the hypothesis that cavernous smooth muscle relaxation and penile tumescence are mediated by nitric oxide and cGMP

Nitric oxide and cGMP: mediators of pelvic nerve-stimulated erection in dogs.

The Role of Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate, Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate, Endothelium and Nonadrenergic, Noncholinergic Neurotransmission in Canine Penile Erection

Flavio Trigo-Rocha

Papers

The Pharmacokinetics of Intravesical and Oral Oxybutynin Chloride

Nitric oxide and cGMP: mediators of pelvic nerve-stimulated erection in dogs.

The Role of Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate, Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate, Endothelium and Nonadrenergic, Noncholinergic Neurotransmission in Canine Penile Erection

Prospective study evaluating efficacy and safety of Adjustable Continence Therapy (ProACT) for post radical prostatectomy urinary incontinence.

Rat model for the study of penile erection: pharmacologic and electrical-stimulation parameters.