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A Twin Study of Nitric Oxide Levels Measured by Serum Nitrite/Nitrate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Lars Retterstol ,
Torstein Lyberg ,
Trude Aspelin  and
Kåre Berg
Lars Retterstol*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Genetics, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. l.j.retterstol@medisin.uio.no
Torstein Lyberg
Affiliation:
Center for Clinical Research, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Trude Aspelin
Affiliation:
Center for Clinical Research, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Kåre Berg
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Genetics, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
*
*Address for correspondence: Lars Retterstol, Ullevål University Hospital, Department of Medical Genetics, 0407 Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

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Nitrite and nitrate are the stable end products of the L-arginine-NO pathway, and the sum of nitrite and nitrate (NOx) is a common way to measure nitric oxide (NO) production or secretion. To uncover any genetic influence on NO, we measured NOx in serum samples from monozygotic twin pairs after an overnight fast. Heritability was estimated as intraclass correlation coefficient. We arrived at a heritability estimate of .32 (95% confidence interval 0.17–0.45) for NOx. The numerical heritability estimate was higher for females than for males (0.38 vs. 0.21), and higher for nonsmokers than for smokers (0.36 vs. 0.22). The heritability estimate of NOx was lower than the heritability estimate for other cardiovascular risk factors. This study suggests a low degree of heredity for NOx levels.

Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , 01 April 2006 , pp. 210 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006