A friend of yours has recently been experiencing chest pain. He decided to go to
ID: 3165450 • Letter: A
Question
A friend of yours has recently been experiencing chest pain. He decided to go to the doctor and learned and learned that he has heart disease. The doctor prescribed him medication, and he came to you, worried, when he realized it had nitroglycerin in it, which is commonly used in explosives. He asks you how in the world it could fix his heart From taking BIOC 442, you think that it probably works by dilating the blood vessels in the heart 7. A. What signal molecule might nitroglycerine be converted to in order to accomplish this? B. Explain how this signal molecule relaxes the blood vessels. .»Explanation / Answer
A. Nitroglycerin is converted into nitric oxide which is responsible for vasodilation of the heart vessels.
B. Nitric oxide interacts with the iron bound to the active site of the enzyme guanylyl cyclase. This brings about an increase in the activity of enzymes, resulting in the production of secondary messenger cyclic GMP. Cyclic GMP is responsible for dilation of blood vessels and relaxation of muscle cells. cGMP activates protein kinases and other proteins which leads to the production of cellular effects.