Nitric Oxide ?

[JHAQ]

The physiological effects of NO on the vascular system is well known but I am puzzled by how it remains as NO & is not oxidised to toxic NOx . How does it avoid this in the body & presence of oxygen carrying blood ?

[Superbug]

Antioxidants like vitamins A and C, which prevent the breakdown (oxidation) of nitric oxide in the body. But NO is very short-lived, hence its usefulness as a signalling molecule.

[1veedo]

Depends on what NO you're talking about. NO is not the same thing as NO2. The latter is a bodybuilding/weight lifting supplement that effects the vascular system making your muscles look bigger (it gives you a "pump"), the former I think is laughing gas and makes your penis bigger.

 

edit -- Actually I think there's NO, and two NO2s. The way chemistry works you can reduce chemical formulas down to like NO2 from two separate chemicals to make it easier to read (and say -- Nitric Oxide). I never had a real chemistry class but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

[insane_alien]

Depends on what NO you're talking about. NO is not the same thing as NO2. The latter is a bodybuilding/weight lifting supplement that effects the vascular system making your muscles look bigger (it gives you a "pump"), the former I think is laughing gas and makes your penis bigger.

 

edit -- Actually I think there's NO, and two NO2s. The way chemistry works you can reduce chemical formulas down to like NO2 from two separate chemicals to make it easier to read. I never had a real chemistry class but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

 

NO₂ is highly toxic and NO isn't much better outside its biological functions and it won't las long.

 

N₂O is laughing gas.

 

It is not recommended that you inhale ANY of these gases as all have the potential to cause death especially with NO2 as it will anaethsetise the nose at low concentrations and at a not much higher dose is fatal. the sysmptoms won't appear for a few hours either but you'll drown from fluid buildup in your lungs. not a nice way to go.

[1veedo]

This is perfectly safe, whatever it is. You don't inhale it, you ingest it orally. I don't know anything about the other NOs.

 

Of course you're actually consuming the precursors to NO2, not actual NO2. Your body turns the arginine and everything into NO2 once it's been digested.

[Revenged]

NO₂ is highly toxic and NO isn't much better outside its biological functions and it won't las long.

 

N₂O is laughing gas.

 

It is not recommended that you inhale ANY of these gases as all have the potential to cause death especially with NO2 as it will anaethsetise the nose at low concentrations and at a not much higher dose is fatal. the sysmptoms won't appear for a few hours either but you'll drown from fluid buildup in your lungs. not a nice way to go.

 

Laughing gas into dangerous... What on earth are you talking about... I did a practicle at uni where we either took a 20 or 40% concentration of N20 and noticed it's effects on how we write, memory, hand-to-eye coordination...etc.

 

And nitrous oxide isn't even used as an anasthetic - it is far far far too weak... it is only used as an analgesic (e.g. pain relief during pregnancy)...

 

Perhaps you are thinking of inhallation anasthetics such as haloperidol, which are more much more potent than N20...

 

This is perfectly safe, whatever it is. You don't inhale it, you ingest it orally. I don't know anything about the other NOs.

 

Of course you're actually consuming the precursors to NO2, not actual NO2. Your body turns the arginine and everything into NO2 once it's been digested.

 

But what good would taking N0 be for bodybuilding... vasodilation?...

[insane_alien]

Laughing gas into dangerous... What on earth are you talking about... I did a practicle at uni where we either took a 20 or 40% concentration of N20 and noticed it's effects on how we write, memory, hand-to-eye coordination...etc.

 

And nitrous oxide isn't even used as an anasthetic - it is far far far too weak... it is only used as an analgesic (e.g. pain relief during pregnancy)...

 

Perhaps you are thinking of inhallation anasthetics such as haloperidol, which aren't more much more potent than N20...

 

outside a controlled enviroment N2O IS dangerous as you can get to the point where you don't know how much you've had and take a fatal dose without realising. and though it isn't used as an anaesthetic anymore(too dangerous, imagine that) it was the first anaesthetic.

[Revenged]

outside a controlled enviroment N2O IS dangerous as you can get to the point where you don't know how much you've had and take a fatal dose without realising. and though it isn't used as an anaesthetic anymore(too dangerous, imagine that) it was the first anaesthetic.

 

ok, i wasn't thinking about recreational use... i guess it depends the dose and what you are taking it with... it is bound to be particularly nasty when taken with central nervous system depressants such as opioids, alcohol, benzos...etc.

 

but trust me N2O isn't potent enough to induce general anasthesia... this is why it isn't used... not because of the dangers - none of the anasthetics used are all that safe... but it has a MAC (Minimum Alveolar Concentration) of 105%... this means that in order to get 50% of people anasthesia you need to 105% N2O, but you can't get more than 100% and so it would be impossible... the most you can give is 80% with 20% oxygen and so for most people it won't ever maintain general anasthesia... that is the reason it isn't used to maintain general anasthesia... we would always use a more potent inhallation anasthetics... also, inhallation anasthetics are used only to maintain anasthesia... they are never used to initiate it... other substances are given intravenously e.g. phenobarbitone (barbituates) to initiate anasthesia as they act within seconds... but N20 is very good for pain relief...

[insane_alien]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide

 

i was going by that and a few other sites. but i'll admit i'm no anaesthesio... however you spell it.

[Revenged]

i was going by that and a few other sites. but i'll admit i'm no anaesthesio... however you spell it.

 

neither am i ... but wikipaedia is very good... i use it for everything ...

 

and tbh no body fully understands how anasthetics work... it's still a bit of a mystery precisely how they work... they either stimulate inhibitory receptors (e.g. GABA) or they inhibit stimulatory receptors (e.g. glutamate receptors) or both... but afaik there aren't any real mechanisms of action that can fully explain their effects...

[John Cuthber]

"Perhaps you are thinking of inhallation anasthetics such as haloperidol, which are more much more potent than N20..."

Haloperidol isn't an inhalational anaesthetic.

NO2 is toxic; I doubt it has any major phyisiological role but it's proably made in small quantities by the oxidation of NO which is a transmitter.

[1veedo]

But what good would taking N0 be for bodybuilding... vasodilation?...

Yeah, pretty much. There are a lot of claims companies like to make but it basically gives you a bigger pump. When you lift your muscles dilate with blood which helps you lift more, and it also has the effect of making your muscles look bigger.

[Revenged]

"Perhaps you are thinking of inhallation anasthetics such as haloperidol, which are more much more potent than N20..."

Haloperidol isn't an inhalational anaesthetic.

 

my bad... well spotted... i meant halothane and not haloperidol...

 

and i meant thiopentone before - not phenobarbitone...

 

Yeah, pretty much. There are a lot of claims companies like to make but it basically gives you a bigger pump. When you lift your muscles dilate with blood which helps you lift more, and it also has the effect of making your muscles look bigger.

 

But the tablets are just in link were just arginine tablets... just like a protein suppliment really... they aren't nitric vasodilators like i was thinking about like glyceryl trinitrate given for heart failure...

[1veedo]

You don't eat actual nitric oxide. Your body uses arginine, and sometimes smaller amounts of other amino acids, to produce nitric oxide. Generally speaking the more arginine the supplement has the greater the effect you get while lifting. Some NO2 supplements put too much in them IMO cause you do get a decent amount of arginine if you supplement with protein and eat enough meat.

 

I think NO2 is overrated in weight lifting though. All you really need is protein, plenty of water, and a routine creatine cycle.

[Vagus]

The physiological effects of NO on the vascular system is well known but I am puzzled by how it remains as NO & is not oxidised to toxic NOx . How does it avoid this in the body & presence of oxygen carrying blood ?

 

NO has a short half-life in vivo... some have measured 1 s, .9-2 s and such. It stimulates vasodilation reportedly by endothelial production (the inner lining of the blood vessels spraying NO at the blood vessel smooth muscle to induce relaxation).

 

Red blood cells with their high hemoglobin content facilitate a high degree of NO scavenging. Auto-oxidation with O2 is reported to be rather slow and somewhat unimportant. Additionally, there are degredation mechanizms as previously mentioned in this thread that do take care of the reactive nitrogen species production.

[vampares]

Laughing gas into dangerous... What on earth are you talking about... I did a practicle at uni where we either took a 20 or 40% concentration of N20 and noticed it's effects on how we write, memory, hand-to-eye coordination...etc.

 

I researched the feasibility of N2O in the heavy machinery operator/transportation sector. He was doing fine until he went unconscious and hit a tree.

 

edit - oh yeah when he woke up his bra was unhooked, something to keep in mind