Is nitric oxide an archaic communication signal?

Do you think of our primordial language? or, not even a language just an initial communication system…in those early days with groups of cells launching the transition from unicellular to multicellular organisms ~ a giga years ago…
Contemplating for a long time on the nitric oxide (NO) netting system, has led me to suggest that maybe it was compounds like NO which enabled such initial communication. The advantage of a radical NO net as a communication tool is its simplicity and availability, and its drawback is its vulnerability and reactivity.
What triggered this blog was the study published by the Geobiology Research Group of the Virginia Tech. They have discussed the 2 explosive evolutionary events which shaped the early history of multicellular life, and I thought whether it was gases like NO or CO which enabled the communication and organization of multicellularity. Such compounds are major signals at our times and they were even more predominant in the prehistoric days when life forms were simpler and less diverse.
The presence and functions of NO in the animal, vegetative or microbial kingdoms are well documented. In an historical review, it was shown that NO is indeed an archaic molecule, biologically functioning in every living organism. It is not difficult to understand its abundance and essentiality, especially prior to the evolution of the biological nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen is an essential element for life and is often a limiting nutrient. As most nitrogen is locked in the stable form, N2, in the atmosphere, processes that can fix N2 into biologically available forms control the supply of nitrogen for organisms. On the early Earth, nitrogen is thought to have been fixed abiotically, as NO was formed during lightning discharge.
In a recent study, the functions of NO in the developing circulatory system were expanded, NO is also important for vessel formation and tone.
While discussing these issues with Prof. Xiao from the Virginia Tech, he has suggested that the modern analogs for the early multicellular organisms would be sponges and cnidarians, and I guess it would be very illuminating to study the effects of NO on their social behavior. Any suggestions?
If indeed the NO net is so ancient, it was functioning before the evolution of the brain and senses. This opens a novel point of view for a current communication system, operating unrelated to emotions or mind, pls read the Viagra blog. Is it part of what we attribute to alternative communication routes? mysticism? holism?


On nitric oxide signaling, metamorphosis, and the evolution of biphasic life cycles
Evol Dev., 2003 Sep-Oct;5(5):542-50

A hypothesis about cellular signaling with nitric oxide in the earliest life forms in evolution
Free Radic Biol Med. 2009 May 9.

Viagra - NO see, NO hear

After discussing the blindness risk, the FDA has decided to caution from the potential risk of sudden hearing loss and even brief amnesia associated with drugs like Cialis, Levitra, and Viagra. I would like to suggest a simple explanation to why do we prefer not to see or not to hear when we use those beneficiary drugs un-smartly.

Recently I have published an article suggesting that an intercellular communication network coordinates the various bodily functions. Radical gases like nitric oxide (NO) are signals in this net and its usability affects health and indicates wellness.

From this netting point of view, stress is the sense of flow interruption or blockage of the information stream. Such flow interruption affects also physiological functions and can explain the association between stress and many ailments.
Data were presented to demonstrate that NO can be a potential stimulus in such nets and explain its multi-factorial role in health.
It was suggested that netting is a prerequisite route of wellness, enabling bodily autonomous managerial decisions.

This vital diffusive NO network is extremely labile and potentially could contain the interplay of consciousness and unconsciousness. It may be effected by increasing the signals, e.g. via drugs like Viagra or by reducing the noise via activities such as yoga or guided imagery

Viagra can enhance the NO resultant cGMP by lowering its breakup rate and indeed was associated not only with better male sexuality but also with improved heart functions, urinary tract symptoms, pulmonary hypertension, jet leg and more…

So where is the pitfall? Internal information crisis…

As Linda Stone stated we are facing wealth of opportunities, as we are not willing to give some of it up, we are in a permanent crisis.
Viagra indeed can help us in dealing with so much data, by increasing the signal over the noise. However, if we abuse its use by trying to process with it, more and more information, we could "bombard" our inner communication system which would collapse and with no other vent, would try to block further data entry. More is not necessarily better; even the cellular phone use, meant to improve family communication, is associated with increased family distress.

Our two major bodily data admission routes are seeing and hearing and these are the two reported dangers of Viagra - blindness and hearing loss. Ponder on what do we do when we are tired from our daily duties, we want to close our eyes in a quiet place...seeing and hearing... or even forget (transient amnesia)...

What can be done? letting go...
I love to mention the Chinese philosopher Lau-Tsu, who wrote in The Tao te Ching, more than two thousands years ago, that the world is ruled by letting things take their course, and cannot be controlled through interference…

The Muscle-Fat Duel

I have written an OpEd column for the Ivanhoe wellness channel, on my approach to the ever-widening obesity problem. Please read it, especially if you have any overweight children... and comment...
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=17112

Nitric oxide (NO) is everywhere

The past decade has witnessed an explosion in the interest of biologists in the gas nitric oxide (NO). This highly reactive free radical, first considered only a noxious air pollutant, is believed to play a vital role in many biological events including regulation of blood flow, immunity, and neurotransmission. Almost every cell and physiological parameter in our body is modulated by NO.

A major issue of our times is the stress so common to our affluent society. Vast data from studies on NO signals, on relaxation/stress processes and on health, supports a novel look of an NO net serving as a coordinator in the body. Such coordination would be essential for health, and interference in it can be the root of stress. I have recently proposed that NO represents an alternative communication system in the body and I am looking for NO "fans" to discuss current issues on this matter.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1998/illpres/

The wellness solution
http://www.uthouston.edu/Media/newsreleases/nr2007/murad_book.html