Robert F. Furchgott | American Pharmacologist, Nitric Oxide Research

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class="md-content"> <div class="md-article-container template-desktop"> <div class="infinite-scroll-container article last"> <article class="article-content container-lg qa-content px-0 pt-0 pb-40 py-lg-20 content " data-topic-id="222548"> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col-auto"> <div class="topic-left-rail md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-F-Furchgott">Robert F. 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Furchgott</h1></div> </div> <div class="topic-identifier font-16 font-md-20">American pharmacologist</div> </div> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-flex flex-row"> <div class="mr-10 mb-15"> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-block md-topic-tools qa-action-buttons mb-15" data-topic-id="222548"> <button class="js-tooltip btn btn-sm btn-outline-blue border pr-10 border-2" > <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 my-n5 mr-5" data-icon="more_vert"></em> More Actions </button> <div class="md-more-popover popover popover-sm p-0 font-14 z-1"> <div> <a class="js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" href="/print/article/222548" target="_blank" > <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="print"></em> Print </a> </div> <div> <button class="js-modal qa-cite-modal-button btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=222548] .md-cite-modal"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="verified"></em> Cite </button> <div class="md-cite-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif d-flex align-items-center pb-15 border-bottom mb-15"> <em class="material-icons text-blue mr-10">verified</em>Cite </div> <div class="font-serif"> While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. </div> <div class="label mt-20 mb-10">Select Citation Style</div> <select class="js-citation-format-select form-select"> <option selected value="mla">MLA</option> <option value="apa">APA</option> <option value="chicago">Chicago Manual of Style</option> </select> <div class="citation font-serif border rounded p-15 mt-20" data-authors="The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica" data-title="Robert F. 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(aged 92)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Awards And Honors: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Nobel-Prize">Nobel Prize (1998)</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Subjects Of Study: </dt> <dd><a href="/science/human-cardiovascular-system">human cardiovascular system</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/nitric-oxide">nitric oxide</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Robert-F-Furchgott"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref668283"></span>Robert F. Furchgott</strong> (born June 4, 1916, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Charleston-South-Carolina" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Charleston</a>, S.C., U.S.—died May 19, 2009, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Seattle-Washington" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Seattle</a>, Wash.) was an American pharmacologist who, along with <span id="ref668289"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Ignarro" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Louis J. Ignarro</a> and <span id="ref668290"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ferid-Murad" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ferid Murad</a>, was co-awarded the 1998 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nobel-Prize" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Nobel Prize</a> in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/nitric-oxide" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">nitric oxide</a> (NO) acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. Their <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="combined" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/combined" data-type="EB">combined</a> work uncovered an entirely new mechanism by which <span id="ref668284"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/blood-vessel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">blood vessels</a> in the body relax and widen.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Furchgott received his B.S. in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/chemistry" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">chemistry</a> from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-North-Carolina" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">University of North Carolina</a> in 1937 and his Ph.D. in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biochemistry" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">biochemistry</a> from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Northwestern-University-Evanston-Illinois" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Northwestern University</a> in 1940. He joined SUNY-Brooklyn’s department of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/pharmacology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">pharmacology</a> in 1956, a position he held until 1989, when he retired as professor emeritus and became an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida. Nearly all of Furchgott’s research involved the study of the mechanism of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/drug-chemical-agent" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">drug</a> interaction with the receptors in blood vessels.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In the work for which he shared the Nobel Prize, Furchgott demonstrated that cells in the endothelium, or inner lining, of blood <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="vessels" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/vessels" data-type="EB">vessels</a> produce an unknown signaling molecule. The molecule, which he named <span id="ref668285"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/endothelium-derived-relaxing-factor" class="md-crosslink ">endothelium-derived relaxing factor</a> (EDRF), signals <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/smooth-muscle" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">smooth muscle</a> cells in blood vessel walls to relax, dilating the vessels. Furchgott’s work would eventually be linked with research done by Murad in 1977, which showed that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/nitroglycerin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">nitroglycerin</a> and several related heart drugs induce the formation of <span id="ref668286"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/nitric-oxide" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">nitric oxide</a>, a colourless, odourless gas that acts to increase the diameter of blood vessels. Once Ignarro demonstrated that EDRF was nitric oxide, the stage was set for the discovery of the many applications of this important basic research. Furchgott and Ignarro first announced their findings at a scientific <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="conference" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/conference" data-type="EB">conference</a> in 1986 and triggered an international boom in research on nitric oxide. Scientists later showed that nitric oxide is manufactured by many different kinds of cells in the body and has a role in regulating a variety of body functions. The research done by Murad, Furchgott, and Ignarro was key to the development of the highly successful anti-impotence drug sildenafil citrate (<span id="ref668287"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Viagra" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Viagra</a>), which acts to increase nitric oxide’s effect in penile blood vessels. Researchers suggested that nitric oxide could be a key to improved treatments for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/heart-disease" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">heart disease</a>, shock, and cancer.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/faces-of-science" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/144788-131-ADACA20E/Michael-Faraday-John-Frederic-Daniell.jpg" alt="Michael Faraday (L) English physicist and chemist (electromagnetism) and John Frederic Daniell (R) British chemist and meteorologist who invented the Daniell cell." class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Faces of Science</div> </div> </a><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In addition to the Nobel Prize, Furchgott received the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/Albert-Davis-Lasker" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Albert Lasker</a> Basic Medical Research Award in 1996.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/contributor/encyclopaedia-britannica/12989892">Encyclopaedia Britannica</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":222548,"pageLength":373,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Robert F. Furchgott | American Pharmacologist, Nitric Oxide Research | Britannica