Once again nitric oxide (NO) shows itself as a multitalented and multitasking substance. In a new study researchers have found that it’s not just how much or how little of it your cells have, but how much nitric oxide is being added or taken away from proteins by the body’s enzymes–the removal process itself (dynitrosylation) seems to trigger apoptosis (cell death) in the cells it’s being removed from.

This discovery is meaningful in many diseases that involve inflammation–including widespread conditions like heart failure, asthma, atherosclerosis, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer.

So–like those of the earth’s ecosystem–our bodies’ systems and components continue to gradually reveal themselves as intimately and profoundly connected in countless ways that we have only begun to discern.