Nitric Oxide Pada Perokok dan Bukan Perokok

Smoking is a bad habit commonly practiced by a lot of people. Nevertheles smoking is a source of health problems in the world.Smoking is one of a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, the prevalence of smokers is increasing. Exposure tocigarette smoke as a source of free radicals potentially cause oxidative stress. Increased oxidative stress will decrease thebiological availability of Nitric Oxide. The role of Nitric Oxide is an Endothelial Derived Releasing Factor (EDRF) which is asmooth muscle cell vasodilator, so that if the amount is reduced it can cause endothelial cell dysfunction. This study was aimed toanalyze differences in nitric oxide levels in smokers and non-smokers. This study was analytic observational with cross sectionaldesign. Subjects was an employees who worked in State Polytechnic of Jember, aged between 25-35 years, male sex, and willing totake blood as much as ± 3 ml. Technique sampling was purposive sampling and obtained subject as many as 30 people, dividedinto 15 smokers and 15 non-smokers. Subject characteristics data were collected by interview method using questionnaire. NitricOxide was obtained from blood serum test by ELISA method. Data analysis using Independent T-test. The results showed thatthere was a significant difference of nitric oxide content (p=0.001, p<0,05), between smokers and non-smokers, where nitric oxidein smokers was lower than non-smokers. Keywords— Cigarette, Nitric Oxide, Smoker