Evidence mounts that nitrite contributes to hypoxic vasodilation in the human circulation.

摘要

Hypoxic vasodilation is a conserved physiological response to hypoxia that matches blood flow and oxygen delivery to tissue metabolic demand. This fundamental physiological process has been characterized for > 100 years since the initial description by Roy and Brown in 1880. Hypoxic vasodilation requires a sensor mechanism that can detect a divergence in the normal relationship between delivered blood oxygen and tissue oxygen consumption. This hypoxic sensor mechanism must be coupled to the feedback generation of vasodilatory effectors that increase blood flow to maintain adequate tissue oxygenation. In short, hypoxic vasodilation requires hypoxia and/or pH sensing coupled to the release of a vasodilating signal.