Louis Ignarro

Last updated
Louis Joseph Ignarro
Louis Ignarro by Carlos Barretta (cropped).jpg
Ignarro in 2013
Born (1941-05-31) May 31, 1941 (age 83)
Brooklyn, NY
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Columbia University
University of Minnesota
Known for Nitric Oxide
Awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1998)
Scientific career
Fields Pharmacology
Institutions Tulane University School of Medicine
UCLA School of Medicine
King Saud University

Louis Joseph Ignarro (born May 31, 1941) is an American pharmacologist. For demonstrating the signaling properties of nitric oxide, he was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad.

Contents

Currently, he is professor emeritus of pharmacology at the UCLA School of Medicine's department of molecular and medical pharmacology in Los Angeles, which he joined in 1985. [1] Before relocating to California, he was a professor of pharmacology at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, for 12 years. Ignarro has also previously worked as a staff scientist, research department, for the pharmaceutical division of CIBA-GEIGY Corporation in New York.

Ignarro has published numerous research articles. He received the Basic Research Prize of the American Heart Association in 1998. This was in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement of cardiovascular science. That same year, he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences and the following year, into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Because nitric oxide is indirectly involved in the action of this drug, he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Viagra". [2]

He is the founder of the Nitric Oxide Society, and founder and editor-in-chief of Nitric Oxide Biology and Chemistry. [3] Ignarro holds a B.S. in pharmacy, Columbia University, 1962, and a Ph.D. in pharmacology, University of Minnesota, School of Medicine, 1966. He also received a postdoctoral fellowship in chemical pharmacology from National Institutes of Health in 1968. He is a member of the scientific committee of Nicox, a French pharmaceutical company, a member of the Board of Directors of Antibe Therapeutics, [4] a Canadian drug discovery company, a member of the Board of Directors of Operation USA, a non-profit organization, and is past member of the Nutritional Advisory Board for Herbalife, a multi-level marketing company.

Personal life

Louis J. Ignarro was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Italian immigrants and his father was a carpenter in Torre del Greco, near Naples. Ignarro grew up in Long Beach, New York, which is a suburb of New York City on the south shore of Long Island. Ignarro received his first chemistry set as a gift at the age of 8. [5]

Ignarro is married to anesthesiologist Dr. Sharon Ignarro and lives in Beverly Hills, California. [5] He is an avid cyclist and marathoner, having completed 13 marathons. [6] [7] Ignarro has published multiple books for lay audiences about health and wellness focusing on the benefits of increasing nitric oxide production. He is a frequent public speaker on these and related topics.

Academic career

Ignarro attended Central Grade School and Long Beach High School. A strong interest in science led Ignarro to Columbia University where he studied chemistry and pharmacology and in 1962 received a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from the Columbia University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences. [8] [9] Ignarro then attended the University of Minnesota where he received a Ph.D. in pharmacology. His university studies also concentrated in chemistry, enzymology and cardiovascular physiology, which resulted in several published papers. While at the University of Minnesota, Ignarro studied under eventual Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Boyer. [5]

Ignarro's work continued at the NIH in the fields he had studied, collaborating with many other scientists to discover regulatory mechanisms of the cardiovascular system that would lead to his most famous work. In 1968, Ignarro left the NIH to work for Geigy Pharmaceuticals. With this company, Ignarro helped develop new drugs and was able to continue research into new areas of pharmacology including cyclic GMP. After Geigy merged with Ciba Pharmaceuticals, Ignarro decided to move back to the world of academia, this time as a professor. [5]

In 1973, Ignarro accepted a position of assistant professor of pharmacology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. Tulane was chosen partially because it would provide a good environment for continued research into cyclic GMP. While studying cyclic GMP, Ignarro read a paper by Ferid Murad, who demonstrated that nitric oxide elevates cyclic GMP levels. Ignarro then speculated that nitric oxide could be the key to relaxing vascular smooth muscles. In turn, this led to his extensive research on the subject. [10] Ignarro's research demonstrated that nitric oxide serves the functions of vasorelaxant and inhibitor of platelet aggregation, with both effects mediated by cyclic GMP.

Ignarro continued his research at Tulane. In 1984 he realized that the properties of nitric oxide were the same as those seen in the endothelium derived relaxing factor (EDRF) previously identified by Robert Furchgott three years earlier. The exact nature of the EDRF was up to this point unknown. Furchgott and Ignarro came to similar conclusions about nitric oxide as the EDRF around the same time, but it was Ignarro who presented hard experimental evidence in support of this notion at conferences during 1986 demonstrating that EDRF is nitric oxide. [5]

During the decades since Ignarro and Furchgott's initial research, thousands of studies have been published about the effects of nitric oxide as the endothelium derived relaxing factor. This has led to the development of erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra and nutritional supplements designed for cardiovascular health and athletic performance.

In 1985, Ignarro moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles where he accepted a position at the UCLA School of Medicine and continues to research and teach. [5]

Herbalife relationship

Ignarro has worked as a consultant for Herbalife since 2003 and later became a member of the company's Scientific Advisory Board. He has collaborated in developing nutritional supplements for cardiovascular health and athletic performance. Ignarro first worked with Herbalife to develop Niteworks, a dietary supplement designed to boost the body's own production of nitric oxide. [11] Ignarro endorsed this product in exchange for a royalty agreement reported to have earned his consulting firm over $1 million in the first 12 months. [12] Ignarro has continued to work with Herbalife to develop additional supplements focusing on nutrients such as Omega-3 fatty acid and CoQ10. As of 2012, Herbalife has made payments to Ignarro and his affiliated consulting firm of over $15 million. [13]

Ignarro appears in videos promoting Niteworks and other Herbalife products, and is a frequent speaker at Herbalife events. Since partnering with Herbalife, Ignarro has spoken to more than five million people worldwide about nitric oxide and cardiovascular health. [14]

Famous quotes

While testifying before Congress in 2000, Ignarro remarked: "Only in America could the son of an uneducated carpenter receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine". [15] [16]

Awards and recognitions

Society memberships

Book publications

Important publications

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitric oxide</span> Colorless gas with the formula NO

Nitric oxide is a colorless gas with the formula NO. It is one of the principal oxides of nitrogen. Nitric oxide is a free radical: it has an unpaired electron, which is sometimes denoted by a dot in its chemical formula. Nitric oxide is also a heteronuclear diatomic molecule, a class of molecules whose study spawned early modern theories of chemical bonding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferid Murad</span> American physician and pharmacologist (1936–2023)

Ferid Murad was an American physician and pharmacologist, and a co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert F. Furchgott</span> American biochemist (1916–2009)

Robert Francis Furchgott was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist who contributed to the discovery of nitric oxide as a transient cellular signal in mammalian systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guanylate cyclase</span> Lyase enzyme that synthesizes cGMP from GTP

Guanylate cyclase is a lyase enzyme that converts guanosine triphosphate (GTP) to cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and pyrophosphate:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endothelium-derived relaxing factor</span> Nitric Oxide as an EDRF

The Endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) is a strong vasodilator produced by cardiac endothelial cells in response to stress signals such as high levels of ADP accumulation or hypoxia. Robert F. Furchgott is widely recognised for this discovery, even going so far as to be a co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine with his colleagues Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad. Nitric oxide (NO) is a key component in any EDRF as these compounds either include NO or are structurally in the form of NO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitric oxide synthase</span> Enzyme catalysing the formation of the gasotransmitter NO(nitric oxide)

Nitric oxide synthases (NOSs) are a family of enzymes catalyzing the production of nitric oxide (NO) from L-arginine. NO is an important cellular signaling molecule. It helps modulate vascular tone, insulin secretion, airway tone, and peristalsis, and is involved in angiogenesis and neural development. It may function as a retrograde neurotransmitter. Nitric oxide is mediated in mammals by the calcium-calmodulin controlled isoenzymes eNOS and nNOS. The inducible isoform, iNOS, involved in immune response, binds calmodulin at physiologically relevant concentrations, and produces NO as an immune defense mechanism, as NO is a free radical with an unpaired electron. It is the proximate cause of septic shock and may function in autoimmune disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvador Moncada</span> Honduran pharmacologist and professor

Sir Salvador Enrique Moncada Seidner, FRS, FRCP, FMedSci is a Honduran-British pharmacologist and professor. He is currently Research Domain Director for Cancer at the University of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicorandil</span> Chemical compound

Nicorandil is a vasodilator drug used to treat angina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endothelial NOS</span> Protein and coding gene in humans

Endothelial NOS (eNOS), also known as nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) or constitutive NOS (cNOS), is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NOS3 gene located in the 7q35-7q36 region of chromosome 7. This enzyme is one of three isoforms that synthesize nitric oxide (NO), a small gaseous and lipophilic molecule that participates in several biological processes. The other isoforms include neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), which is constitutively expressed in specific neurons of the brain and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), whose expression is typically induced in inflammatory diseases. eNOS is primarily responsible for the generation of NO in the vascular endothelium, a monolayer of flat cells lining the interior surface of blood vessels, at the interface between circulating blood in the lumen and the remainder of the vessel wall. NO produced by eNOS in the vascular endothelium plays crucial roles in regulating vascular tone, cellular proliferation, leukocyte adhesion, and platelet aggregation. Therefore, a functional eNOS is essential for a healthy cardiovascular system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitric oxide synthase 2 (inducible)</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Nitric oxide synthase, inducible is an enzyme which is encoded by the NOS2 gene in humans and mice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NOS1</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Nitric oxide synthase 1 (neuronal), also known as NOS1, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NOS1 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CAMK1</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the CAMK1 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GUCY1B3</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Guanylate cyclase soluble subunit beta-1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the GUCY1B3 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GUCY1A3</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Guanylate cyclase soluble subunit alpha-3 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the GUCY1A3 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GUCY1A2</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Guanylate cyclase soluble subunit alpha-2 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the GUCY1A2 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7-Nitroindazole</span> Chemical compound

7-Nitroindazole, or 7-NI, is a heterocyclic small molecule containing an indazole ring that has been nitrated at the 7 position. Nitroindazole acts as a selective inhibitor for neuronal nitric oxide synthase, a hemoprotein enzyme that, in neuronal tissue, converts arginine to citrulline and nitric oxide (NO). Nitric oxide can diffuse through the plasma membrane into neighbouring cells, allowing cell signalling, so nitroindazole indirectly inhibits this signalling process. Other inhibitors exist such as 3-bromo-7-nitroindazole, which is more potent but less specific, or NPA (N-propyl-L-arginine), which acts on a different site.

Biological functions of nitric oxide are roles that nitric oxide plays within biology.

Ted M. Dawson is an American neurologist and neuroscientist. He is the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Director of the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has joint appointments in the Department of Neurology, Neuroscience and Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Stamler</span> English-American physician and biochemist

Jonathan Solomon Stamler is an English-born American physician and scientist. He is known for his discovery of protein S-nitrosylation, the addition of a nitric oxide (NO) group to cysteine residues in proteins, as a ubiquitous cellular signal to regulate enzymatic activity and other key protein functions in bacteria, plants and animals, and particularly in transporting NO on cysteines in hemoglobin as the third gas in the respiratory cycle.

References

  1. ↑ Ignarro, Louis J. "Louis J. Ignarro, Ph.D." Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California Los Angeles : Faculty Research. Los Angeles: University of California Los Angeles. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. ↑ AEI Speaker's Bureau
  3. 1 2 3 "UCLA Pharmacologist Wins Nobel Prize in Medicine for Work on Nitric Oxide as an Important Signaling Chemical". UCLA. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2012-01-23.
  4. ↑ Antibe Therapeutics
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Louis J. Ignarro on Nobelprize.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg , accessed 22 October 2020
  6. ↑ "Lou Ignarro's Race Results". Athlinks. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
  7. ↑ Lamontagne, Kenneth R. (2006). "Antiangiogenesis: New frontiers in therapeutic development". Angiogenesis. 8 (4). Springerlink: 285–287. doi:10.1007/s10456-005-9025-6. PMID   16400519. S2CID   1790655.
  8. ↑ "Alumni Profile: Louis J. Ignarro | Columbia Public Health". www.publichealth.columbia.edu. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  9. ↑ "Columbia University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty minutes, 1893-1904, 1914-1922, 1937-1961". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  10. ↑ "Louis Ignarro, Ph.D. Biography and Interview". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  11. ↑ "Nitric Oxide Now – Ask Me How". Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  12. ↑ "Nobel Prize Winner Didn't Disclose Herbalife Contract". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  13. ↑ Pershing Square Capital (December 17, 2012). "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". Herbalife Presentation. pp. Slide 53. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Why I Chose Herbalife". HealthWell Ventures. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  15. ↑ "Critical Care Canada Form Faculty". CCCF. Archived from the original on 2010-11-24. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  16. ↑ "CV Network Online" (PDF). International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Louis J. Ignarro – Curriculum Vitae". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2012-01-24.
  18. ↑ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  19. 1 2 "Louis Ignarro CV" (PDF). Health Value Communications. Retrieved 2012-01-23.[ permanent dead link ]
  20. ↑ "Distinguished Scientist 2008". AHA. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  21. ↑ "Davanti a due premi Nobel nasce "Alumni" Federico II" ["Alumni" Federico II was born in front of two Nobel prizes]. Corriere del Mezzogiorno (in Italian).
  22. ↑ "Golden Plate Awardees". American Academy of Achievement.
  23. ↑ "Staff – Fondazione Italia USA".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.