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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scientists model vital life enzyme ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON (October 16, 1997 5:46 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - Scientists said Thursday they had finally modelled a vital enzyme that governs basic bodily processes from blood pressure to memory, which means they now may be able to design drugs that affect it. They said they now understood the structure of the active site on the enzyme that regulates nitric oxide, which plays a role in immune response but which is also implicated in diseases such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and stroke. "Having this structure is the difference between working blind and seeing what you're doing in terms of understanding and drug design," John Tanier at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who worked on the study, said in a statement. The enzyme, nitric oxide synthase, is responsible for production of nitric oxide (NO). Writing in the journal Science, Tanier and colleagues said they used protein crystallography to get a picture of the structure. X-rays are bounced off purified and crystallized enzyme, making an atomic image. The extent of NO's role has only recently become clear, but scientists suspect it is an essential chemical messenger helping to control blood pressure and blood clotting, transmitting nerve impulses and fighting invaders such as bacteria and parasites. Too little NO can lead to impotence, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries, while too much is linked to diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. "NO appears to be one of the most important messenger molecules in the body," said Solomon Snyder of Johns Hopkins University, who helped discover NO. "Drugs that block the enzyme could be important therapeutically. This breakthrough may allow scientists to begin to design drugs to inhibit it." Copyright 1997 Nando.net Copyright 1997 Reuters <http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/health/101697/health5_10908_noframes.html> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]