Fig. 4.

Studies of the role of NO in modulating myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. The figure illustrates the studies published in the decade 1990–2000. Of the 92 full-length original manuscripts, 67 concluded that NO is beneficial and only 11 that NO is detrimental (however, several of these “negative” studies have methodological problems). A similar distribution was observed when studies were subdivided according to whether the experiments were performed in vitro (43 studies) or in vivo (49 studies); in both cases, the preponderance of the evidence supports a beneficial role of NO in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Therefore, the protective effects of NO are not dependent on the use of in vivo or in vitro models. Reprinted from Ref. 3 (Copyright 2001), with permission from Elsevier.