In mammals including humans, NO is an important cellular signaling molecule involved in many physiological and pathological processes. It is a powerful vasodilator with a short half-life of a few seconds in the blood. Long-known pharmaceuticals such as nitroglycerin and amyl nitrite were discovered, more than a century after their first use in medicine, to be active through the mechanism of being precursors to nitric oxide.
Low levels of nitric oxide production are important in protecting organs such as the liver from ischemic damage. But does anyone knows about the roles of nitric oxide in transition cows?