Enzymatic and non-enzymatic oxygenations of unsaturated fatty acids yield a broad family of
autocrine and paracrine cell signaling mediators. Soon after nitric oxide (NO) was described
as a mediator of vascular relaxation, it was appreciated that this lipophilic free radical
species strongly influences fatty acid oxygenation at multiple levels. For example, NO
terminates peroxyl radical-induced chain propagation reactions of lipid peroxidation at rate
constants 103 faster than tocopherols (1, 2). Also, the gene expression and catalytic activity …