Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Aug 6;8(8):277.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines8080277.

Arginine and Endothelial Function

Jessica Gambardella  1   2   3   4 , Wafiq Khondkar  1 , Marco Bruno Morelli  1   2 , Xujun Wang  1 , Gaetano Santulli  1   2   3   4 , Valentina Trimarco  5
Affiliations
Review

Arginine and Endothelial Function

Jessica Gambardella et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Arginine (L-arginine), is an amino acid involved in a number of biological processes, including the biosynthesis of proteins, host immune response, urea cycle, and nitric oxide production. In this systematic review, we focus on the functional role of arginine in the regulation of endothelial function and vascular tone. Both clinical and preclinical studies are examined, analyzing the effects of arginine supplementation in hypertension, ischemic heart disease, aging, peripheral artery disease, and diabetes mellitus.

Keywords: ADMA; BH4; COVID-19; L-arginine; NADPH; arginine; arginine paradox; blood pressure; dietary supplements; eNOS uncoupling; endothelial dysfunction; endothelium; heart failure; hypertension; myocardial infarction; nitric oxide; oxidative stress; peripheral artery disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Functional role of arginine in the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO). NADPH: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate; eNOS: endothelial NO synthase.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Functional role of arginine in endothelial (dys)function. ADMA: asymmetric dimethylarginine; Arg: arginine; BH2: 7,8-dihydrobiopterin; BH4: tetrahydrobiopterin; CAT: cationic amino acid transporter; Citr: citrulline; NADPH: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate; NO: nitric oxide; NOS: NO synthase.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lopez M.J., Mohiuddin S.S. StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; Treasure Island, FL, USA: 2020. Biochemistry, Essential Amino Acids. - PubMed
    1. Luiking Y.C., Ten Have G.A., Wolfe R.R., Deutz N.E. Arginine de novo and nitric oxide production in disease states. Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab. 2012;303:E1177–E1189. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00284.2012. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agapie T., Suseno S., Woodward J.J., Stoll S., Britt R.D., Marletta M.A. NO formation by a catalytically self-sufficient bacterial nitric oxide synthase from Sorangium cellulosum. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2009;106:16221–16226. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0908443106. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jachymova M., Martasek P., Panda S., Roman L.J., Panda M., Shea T.M., Ishimura Y., Kim J.J. Masters, B.S. Recruitment of governing elements for electron transfer in the nitric oxide synthase family. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2005;102:15833–15838. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0506522102. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Serpe M.J., Zhang X. The Principles, Development and Application of Microelectrodes for the In Vivo Determination of Nitric Oxide. In: Michael A.C., Borland L.M., editors. Electrochemical Methods for Neuroscience. CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; Boca Raton, FL, USA: 2007. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources