FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A University of Arkansas researcher has become the first person at the university to win the American Heart Association’s National Scientist Development Grant to study the role of nitric oxide in microcirculation, which helps regulate blood flow from arterioles to capillaries in different parts of the body.

Nitric oxide is not to be confused with nitrous oxide, the so-called 'laughing gas’ with which many patients are familiar from their dental visits. Nitric oxide (NO) is an essential player in many of the body’s critical functions, and UA researcher Mahendra Kavdia is on the cutting edge of research into understanding nitric oxide and improving its therapeutic potential.

“Right now you can name anything from diabetes to cancer to cardiovascular disorders,” according to Kavdia, “and nitric oxide is involved in one way or the other.”

Kavdia, the first scholar hired to helm the university’s biomedical engineering graduate programs, said the $260,000 grant will provide funding for four years.

“Biomedical engineering is a very rapidly growing field internationally because of its tremendous potential for improving the quality of life of humans,” said Ashok Saxena, dean of the College of Engineering. “We are extremely pleased that the College of Engineering at University of Arkansas is now able to successfully compete for research grants from these highly competitive sources.”

Kavdia is attempting to quantify the biochemical interactions of blood and nitric oxide and develop computational models of the process. Nitric oxide plays pivotal roles in many physiological functions such as vascular tone, neurotransmission and the body’s immune responses to illness and disease.

  “Everyone knows red blood cells transport oxygen from the heart to the tissues and carbon dioxide from the tissue to the heart,” Kavdia explained. “But there is a third category and that is the role the red blood cell plays with respect to nitric oxide. Once we can quantify that, it is going to be helpful in fighting diseases such as sickle cell anemia, high blood pressure and septic shock.”

Nitric oxide is a poisonous gas at high levels, though it sometimes is given to very young children who have trouble breathing or whose lungs are not functioning properly. The gas helps dilate the blood vessels, which in turn dilate the lungs and ease breathing difficulty.

Kavdia believes that if he can model the role of nitric oxide in microcirculation, particularly how and if it can be transported from location to location within the body, it will greatly enhance the current body of biochemical research.

 “By designing a new experimental and computational model for studying biochemical interactions of nitric oxide and red blood cells,” he said, “we will advance the knowledge of biomedical researchers on these molecular interactions. This may provide therapeutic opportunities in areas as diverse as sickle cell anemia, pulmonary hypertensions, nitric oxide inhalation and substitutes for blood.”

The American Heart Association’s National Scientist Development grants are highly competitive awards made to researchers focusing on aspects of brain function that relate to stroke. The awards are designed to encourage novel research in the field.

“Receiving a grant such as this is indicative of the quality of the biomedical engineering program that we are building at the University of Arkansas,” said Lalit Verma, head of the department, which resides in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the College of Engieering. “We are establishing a strong biomedical program that can and will compete at the highest national levels.”