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(Circulation. 2000;102:e51.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.

Book Review

Endothelium, Nitric Oxide, and Atherosclerosis: From Basic Mechanisms to Clinical Implications

Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD

Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass

The discovery of nitric oxide as an essential effector of many biological phenomena surely stands out as one of the most important achievements of 20th century biomedical investigation. As a cardiovascular clinician and investigator, the earliest studies of endothelium-derived relaxing factor and nitric oxide in vascular biology are especially gratifying in that they established the scientific infrastructure on which the much broader scope of nitric oxide biology was ultimately based. Understanding the many roles of nitric oxide in cardiovascular biology and pathobiology, in particular, has shed light on basic mechanisms of cardiovascular function, on fundamental mechanisms of cardiovascular disease, and on conventional and novel approaches to cardiovascular therapeutics.

With this background, I was not surprised to learn that 53 books have been published on nitric oxide biology and chemistry in the last 10 years, and 10 of these have focused on the cardiovascular system. Therefore, when asked to review this volume, I was impelled to ask the question, "Do we need yet another text on nitric oxide?"

The answer to the question is no and yes. No, I do not think we need yet another text purporting to review the importance of nitric oxide in the vasculature because the topic has been more than adequately covered in many other texts and reviews. However, because of the rapidity with which the field of nitric oxide biology is changing, especially as it relates to cardiovascular biomedicine, it is clear even to one well versed in the topic that it is not easy . . . [Full Text of this Article]