Using mice with an amino substitution in the kinase PKG, a key regulator of blood vessel tone, Oleksandra Prysyazhna et al. provide evidence for the physiological importance of PKG oxidation and disulfide formation in maintaining normal blood pressure. These results clarify the nature of an enigmatic vasodilatory activity termed endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor and suggest that vascular oxidative stress can have blood pressure-lowering effects.
- Oleksandra Prysyazhna
- Olena Rudyk
- Philip Eaton