RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Inhibition of Platelet Aggregation with Glyceryl Trinitrate and Xanthine Oxidoreductase JF Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics JO J Pharmacol Exp Ther FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics SP 326 OP 330 VO 292 IS 1 A1 Sharon O'Byrne A1 Cheerag Shirodaria A1 Timothy Millar A1 Cliff Stevens A1 David Blake A1 Nigel Benjamin YR 2000 UL http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/292/1/326.abstract AB Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) is a mammalian enzyme that possesses a series of redox centers, which use either NAD+ or molecular oxygen for oxidation of the purines xanthine and hypoxanthine to uric acid. The ability of XOR to act as an NADH oxidase is a less well recognized function of the enzyme, and it is this function that we used to explore the metabolism of glyceryl trinitrate. The antiplatelet effect of nitric oxide (NO) on platelet aggregation was used as a bioassay to assess the bioconversion of glyceryl trinitrate to NO by XOR. The thromboxane mimetic U46619, 2 μM, was used to stimulate platelet aggregation in platelet-rich plasma prepared from healthy drug-free human volunteers. All incubations were carried out at 37°C for 2 min after the addition of U46619. XOR produced a dose-dependent antiaggregant effect when incubated with glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), 220 μM. This did not occur when GTN or XOR was incubated with platelet-rich plasma independently. The antiaggregant effect of XOR plus GTN was dose dependently inhibited by allopurinol, with an IC50 of 100 μM. The addition of superoxide dismutase (SOD), 100 U/ml produced a shift to the left in the antiaggregant dose-response curve for XOR. The IC50 for XOR at 200 U/l without SOD was decreased to 80 U/l with SOD. Oxyhemoglobin, an extracellular NO scavenger, produced a dose-dependent, noncompetitive inhibition of the antiaggregant effect of XOR plus GTN. These findings suggest that GTN may be reduced to NO in vitro by the enzyme XOR in sufficient amounts to inhibit platelet aggregation. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics