Description
Nitrotyrosine is the nitrated form of the amino acid tyrosine.
The accumulation of protein bound nitrotyrosine is associated with cardiovascular diseases that are based on inflammatory processes, for example, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, diabetic vasculopathy, hypertension, or coronary heart diseases. A growing number of studies have also associated the accumulation of nitrotyrosine with neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer´s disease, Parkinson´s disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. With treatment of some of the associated diseases the levels of nitrated tyrosines have been shown to decrease, therefore, nitrotyrosine has been stated to be a marker of nitrosative stress. The nitration of tyrosine in general is a natural process within the post-translational protein modification. Nitrotyrosine is a stable product and might be seen as a correlate of peroxynitrite production, and its accumulation in cells and tissues is a marker of oxidative stress and nitrosative stress, respectively.
