title: Presence of constitutive type nitric oxide synthase in cultured astrocytes isolated from rat cerebra.
abstract: To define whether astrocytes express a constitutive nitric oxide synthase (NOS), nitric oxide (NO) producing activity in astrocytes derived fetal rat cerebra was examined. We found that the addition of an NOS inhibitor to cultures caused decrease in the basal cGMP levels in unstimulated astrocytes and the decrease was dose-dependent. Further, the expression of cNOS activity in unstimulated astrocytes was confirmed by histochemical staining for NADPH diaphorase and by measuring conversion of L-arginine to L-citrulline. We conclude that cultured astrocytes express constitutive NOS, in addition to inducible one.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiological Chemistry, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murota
mesh_terms: D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002956:Citrulline / Q000378:metabolism; D006152:Cyclic GMP / Q000378:metabolism; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D051381:Rats; D019323:omega-N-Methylarginine
chemical_list: D019323:omega-N-Methylarginine; D002956:Citrulline; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D001120:Arginine; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase; D006152:Cyclic GMP