Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME): requirement for bioactivation to the free acid, NG-nitro-L-arginine.
1. The L-arginine derivatives NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG) and NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) have been widely used to inhibit constitutive NO synthase (NOS) in different biological systems.This work was carried out to investigate whether L-NAME is a direct inhibitor of NOS or requires preceding hydrolytic bioactivation to L-NOARG for inhibition of the enzyme.