Presentations
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Department
Biology
Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in many processes that occur throughout the human body, and it often indicates an immune response in the body due to inflammation. Common examples of processes that NO is involved in range from immune responses to the regulation of blood pressure. With nitric oxide production and health intertwined, accurately using this signaling molecule and testing the concentration of nitric oxide during physiological processes was raised. The aggregation of human platelets, a process that is part of the blood clotting process and is inhibited by NO release, allows scientists to use assay kits to measure NO concentration. We used a Griess reagent kit (Cayman Chemical, Ann Arbor Michigan) and collected blood from human volunteers. We then set out to determine if the Cayman Chemical kit could quantify nitric oxide production. We first tested platelet agonists and their ability to stimulate platelet aggregation and measured nitric oxide production using a fluorometric assay. Data that was collected was the average maximal percent aggregation as compared to the control we used. Our results, however, showed that the Cayman Chemical Kit was unable to detect nitric oxide in aggregated platelets and should not be used for diagnostic purposes.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Price Blair, Dr. Jason Crumpton, & Dr. Nancy Cowden
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Quantifying Nitric Oxide Production in Platelets using the Griess Reagent System
Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in many processes that occur throughout the human body, and it often indicates an immune response in the body due to inflammation. Common examples of processes that NO is involved in range from immune responses to the regulation of blood pressure. With nitric oxide production and health intertwined, accurately using this signaling molecule and testing the concentration of nitric oxide during physiological processes was raised. The aggregation of human platelets, a process that is part of the blood clotting process and is inhibited by NO release, allows scientists to use assay kits to measure NO concentration. We used a Griess reagent kit (Cayman Chemical, Ann Arbor Michigan) and collected blood from human volunteers. We then set out to determine if the Cayman Chemical kit could quantify nitric oxide production. We first tested platelet agonists and their ability to stimulate platelet aggregation and measured nitric oxide production using a fluorometric assay. Data that was collected was the average maximal percent aggregation as compared to the control we used. Our results, however, showed that the Cayman Chemical Kit was unable to detect nitric oxide in aggregated platelets and should not be used for diagnostic purposes.