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TABLE I Cardiovascular risk correlates with [ADMA] and NOS activity

Low risk group			High risk group
volunteer	[ADMA], mM	%NOS activity	volunteer	[ADMA], mM	%Nos activity
LR01	0.062	94%	HR01	0.417	57%
LR02	0.112	90%	HR02	0.414	55%
LR03	0.115	90%	HR03	0.565	52%
LR04	0.137	88%	HR04	0.573	49%
LR05	0.162	85%	HR05	0.583	46%
LR06	0.175	84%	HR06	0.599	46%
LR07	0.180	83%	HR07	0.603	45%
LR08	0.192	83%	HR08	0.639	42%
LR09	0.200	83%	HR09	0.733	33%
LR10	0.205	81%	HR10	1.009	28%
LR11	0.210	79%	HR11	1.104	28%
LR12	0.227	78%	HR12	1.202	25%
LR13	0.242	78%	HR13	1.643	25%
LR14	0.247	78%
LR15	0.252	76%
LR16	0.260	74%
LR17	0.292	67%
LR18	0.367	62%
LR19	0.370	60%
LR20	0.372	60%
Mean	0.219	78.7%	Mean	0.776	40.8%
Std. Dev.	0.086	9.9%	Std. Dev.	0.361	11.6%

Venous blood was collected in tubes and centrifuged at 2500 x g to separate plasma. To determine asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) concentrations, plasma samples were diluted 1:100 and 1:1000 and analyzed with Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA) kit, a gift from Cardiovasics' Medical Science Laboratory, (Palo Alto, California). The within-assay and between-assay variation coefficients were not more than 5%.To classify as low or high risk, plasma ADMA concentrations measured for each volunteer was tested on partially purified preparations of human endothelium nitric oxide synthase (NOS). The NOS preparations had specific activities in the range of 11 (no ADMA) to 2.75 (1.6 mM ADMA) nmole citrulline/min/mg protein.