Role of serum nitrogen oxide in treated hypertensive and normotensive subjects

Background: Hypertension is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Essential hypertension is characterized by endothelial dysfunction and increased vascular tone and resistance. The former is the result of imbalance of endothelium derived contracting and relaxing factors. Nitric oxide which is produced locally by endothelium is crucial for maintaining vascular tone. Aims and Objectives: To study the role of nitric oxide in hypertensive cases and also find out the normal level of serum nitric oxide in the specific population of the district East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 hypertensive and non-diabetic patients aged between 30 years to 72 years; (Male: Female =1.3:1) was taken for the study. Serum creatinine was measured and hypertensives having elevated serum creatinine (>0.3 mg/dl) were excluded from the study; this was done to rule out any effect of kidney functional status on level of serum nitric oxide. Serum nitrate was measured using colorimetric Griess assay. The data was analyzed using SAS 9.1 Results: The mean serum nitrate in hypertensive patients (43.77