There is much interest in the nitration. , Reaction 1,The early indication of the occurrence of this reaction in biological systems came from the report on the inhibitory effect of O 2 . on the activity of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (7).After endothelium-derived relaxing factor identity was established as ⅐ NO (8, 9), its scavenging by O 2 . was first proposed as a contributing factor to endothelial injury (10). Reaction 1 has great physiological significance as both ⅐ NO and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 , the product of dismutation of O 2 . ) act as important second messengers in redox cell signaling (11,12). In the absence of scavengers, ONOO Ϫ decomposes at neutral pH via protonation to peroxynitrous acid (pK a ϭ 6.7, Reaction 2) to yield nitrate (NO 3 Ϫ ) and free radical intermediates:hydroxyl radical ( ⅐ OH) and nitrogen dioxide ( ⅐ NO 2 ) (Reaction 3, k 3 ϭ 1.25 s Ϫ1 ) (2, 13).In most biological systems, carbon dioxide is a likely scavenger of ONOO Ϫ , yielding a short-lived nitrosoperoxycarbonate anion (ONOOCO 2 Ϫ , Reaction 4, k 4 ϭ 2.9 ϫ 10 4 M Ϫ1 s Ϫ1 (14)). During the decomposition of ONOOCO 2 Ϫ , nitrate and carbon dioxide are formed, as well as nitrogen dioxide radical and carbonate radical anion (Reaction 5) (2, 13, 15).Due to the occurrence of Reactions 4 and 5, as well as the scavenging by peroxiredoxins or oxyhemoglobin in specific subcellular compartments, the lifetime of ONOO Ϫ in biological systems is limited to only a few milliseconds (2, 13). The current methodologies for detection of ONOO Ϫ are based on the detection of radical species formed from ONOO Ϫ decomposition, i.e. ⅐ NO 2 and CO 3 . or ⅐ OH, using tyrosine that forms nitrotyrosine (TyrNO 2 ) as a marker product of intracellular ⅐ NO 2 and dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR) 2 as a fluorogenic probe for oxidants ( ⅐ NO 2 , ⅐ OH, CO 3 . ). However, ⅐ NO 2 radical formed from the ONOO Ϫ -independent processes, e.g. via myeloperoxidasecatalyzed oxidation of nitrite by H 2 O 2 (16), could make data interpretation more tenuous (17, 18). Additional problems with this indirect approach may arise from alternate mechanisms through which TyrNO 2 can be formed without the involvement of ⅐ NO 2 radicals (19). DHR can be oxidized to the fluorescent rhodamine molecule by various one-electron oxidants, including compounds I and II of peroxidases (20,21 2 The abbreviations used are: DHR, dihydrorhodamine 123; CBA, coumarin-7-boronic acid; CBE, coumarin-7-boronic acid, pinacolate ester; COH, 7-hydroxycoumarin; PAPA-NONOate, (Z)-1-[N-(3-ammoniopropyl)-N-(n-propyl)amino]diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate; X, xanthine; XO, xanthine oxidase; SOD, superoxide dismutase; DTPA, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid; HPLC, high pressure liquid chromatography.