title: NADPH-diaphorase (nitric oxide synthase)-reactive amacrine cells of rabbit retina: putative target cells and stimulation by light.
abstract: In the mammalian retina there are two populations of nitric oxide synthase-containing amacrine cells that stain with the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase reaction. To determine the response of these neurons to light, immunoreactivity to Fos proteins was used as a marker of synaptic activation. Fos immunoreactivity is absent in dark-adapted retinas, but 70% of large, Type I nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase-reactive amacrine cells and 5-10% of the smaller but more numerous Type II nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase-reactive amacrine cells contain Fos proteins after light stimulation. To localize putative cellular targets of nitric oxide in the retina, retinas were stained immunocytochemically for cyclic GMP after the local administration of the nitric oxide donors sodium nitroprusside and S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine. Both compounds induce strong cyclic GMP immunoreactivity in ON cone bipolar cells. The data suggest that the light-induced inward current in ON cone bipolar cells is enhanced by a nitric oxide-cyclic GMP pathway and that the major source of nitric oxide is the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase-reactive amacrine cells in the rabbit retina.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koistinaho
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Vente
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Sagar
mesh_terms: D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D006152:Cyclic GMP / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D011817:Rabbits; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase; D006152:Cyclic GMP