title: Proportion of NADPH-diaphorase reactive sympathetic efferents innervating the normal and inflamed knee joint of the cat.
abstract: To determine whether postganglionic sympathetic efferents may be a source of nitric oxide in normal and inflamed knee joints, the distribution of NADPH-diaphorase was studied in retrogradely labelled neurons of the paravertebral sympathetic ganglia in the cat. In these ganglia, a strong NADPH-diaphorase staining reaction was found in 3-7% (segments L2-L5) and 14-17% (segments L6 and L7) of the neurons. Only 2.5 +/- 1.2% (mean +/- SD, 4 normal joints), of 2207 labelled neurons showed a positive staining reaction. During a unilateral inflammation (32 h), this proportion slightly increased to 5.0 +/- 1.2% (unaffected joints of 4 animals, 2510 labelled perikarya) and 5.4 +/- 2.8% (inflamed joints of 4 animals, 2578 labelled perikarya). However, these increases only attained statistical significance between the values obtained from control animals and from the normal sides of animals with a monoarthritis. Thus, the data indicate that in the sympathetic innervation of the normal and inflamed knee in the cat, the release of nitric oxide has little or no importance.
authors.affiliation: Physiologisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Heppelmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bscheidl
mesh_terms: D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D008058:Dihydrolipoamide Dehydrogenase; D004525:Efferent Pathways; D007249:Inflammation; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D017779:Sympathetic Fibers, Postganglionic
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases; D008058:Dihydrolipoamide Dehydrogenase