ABSTRACT
The signaling effects of nitric oxide (NO) are, at least in part, also defined by NO reaction products with reactivities of their own that are discernible from those of the “mother compound”. One such product is peroxynitrite, which is generated in the nearly diffusion-controlled reaction of NO with superoxide (k2 ≈ 1010 M−1s−1). Thus, peroxynitrite may cause cellular responses that are at the intersection of the effects elicited by NO and by the action of superoxide.
