A Winter Gordon Conference on Nitric Oxide in Biochemistry and Biology will be held on Jan 29-Feb 3, 1995 in Ventura. CA. A great upsurge in research on the compound followed discovery during the past decade of the capacity of a variety of human and animal cells to oxidize a guanidino nitrogen of L-arginine to form nitric oxide (NO) and the further demonstration that NO acts as a cytotoxin in phagocytes and activates cGMP formation, which in turn regulates vascular tone, platelet aggregation, and neurotransmission, in many other cells. NO was thus named SCIENCE magazine s Molecule of the Year for 1992 . Simultaneous observations concerning involvement of nitric oxide as an intermediate in bacterial denitrification, and kindred events in nature s nitrogen cycle, and in erosion of the earth s stratospheric ozone layer combined to add greatly to interest in the gas. This Gordon Conference offers an opportunity to bring together outstanding scientists to consider and discuss basic chemistry, biochemistry, capacity for reaction with other ligands, enzymology, genetic, and analytic method s for NO detection. %%% Nitric oxide (NO) is a simple gas compound composed of one nitrogen and one oxygen atom. In large amounts, it is deadly, but animals (including humans) continually produce small quantities that influence four different types of activities: three by stimulating production of the compound cyclic guanosine monophosphate that actually regulates the functions. These are: controlling blood pressure by relaxing veins and arteries; stopping blood-clot formation or dissolving clots; and influencing passage of signals along nerve cells. NO acts directly in white blood cells by killing bacteria and cancer cells they engulf. The amino acid L-arginine is the source of NO for all these actions. Out in nature, NO is produced differently; usually as an intermediate in bacterial destruction of nitrate, often used as a crop fertilizer. The bacteria ordinarily act further on the NO, but some leaks out into the atmosphere, even rising up and eroding the stratospheric ozone layer. Plants and fungi also produce some NO. This Gordon Conference brings together scientists who will present results of studies of the biochemistry and biology of NO, the ways it is formed and measured, and how it reacts with the biological catalysts we call enzymes, particularly those containing metals such as iron and copper.
