Biological Functions
For further information about sodium chloride in the diet, see Salt.In humans, a high-salt intake has long been suspected to generally raise blood pressure. More recently, it was demonstrated to attenuate nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide (NO) contributes to vessel homeostasis by inhibiting vascular smooth muscle contraction and growth, platelet aggregation, and leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium.
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Jordanian and Israeli salt evaporation ponds at the south end of the Dead Sea.
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Mounds of salt, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.
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Evaporation lagoons, Aigues-Mortes, France.
Read more about this topic: Sodium Chloride
Famous quotes containing the words biological and/or functions:
“I am fifty-two years of age. I am a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a few people might be constrained to say that I was reasonably responsible. In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute—a white skin.”
—Desmond Tutu (b. 1931)
“Empirical science is apt to cloud the sight, and, by the very knowledge of functions and processes, to bereave the student of the manly contemplation of the whole.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)