Activation of soluble guanylate cyclase by NO donors--S-nitrosothiols, and dinitrosyl-iron complexes with thiol-containing ligands.

We studied the capability of dimeric forms of dinitrosyl-iron complexes and S-nitrosothiols to activate soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) from human platelet cytosol. The dinitrosyl-iron complexes had the ligands glutathione (DNIC-GS) or N-acetylcysteine (DNIC-NAC). The S-nitrosothiols were S-nitrosoglutathione (GS-NO) or S-nitrosoacetylcysteine (SNAC).