title: Induction and variants of neuronal nitric oxide synthase type I during synaptogenesis.
abstract: In the adult central nervous system, nitric oxide (NO) is formed from L-arginine by the so-called constitutive or type I NO synthase (NOS-I155). However, expression of NOS-I155 immunoreactivity and activity was low or not detectable in developing mouse and rat brain. NOS-I155 was sharply induced coincident with the onset of synaptogenesis in specific brain regions. This was followed by a second phase in which total NOS-I155 expression decreased both in specific cell populations and in the total synaptosomal subcellular fraction.Furthermore, two putative variants of NOS-I were transiently observed: an NOS-I-immunoreactive protein with increased electrophoretic mobility (NOS-I144) and a transient hypersensitivity of NOS-I155 to the competitive substrate inhibitor N omega-nitro-L-arginine. It is concluded that NOS-I expression is not constitutive but locally induced. In the central nervous system, this regionally specific, biphasic pattern of postnatal NOS-I induction is consistent with a role for NO in synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Medizinische Universitätsklinik, Klinische Biochemie und Pathobiochemie, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ogilvie
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Billingsley
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000145:classification; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development*; D002458:Cell Fractionation; D004790:Enzyme Induction; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009474:Neurons / Q000201:enzymology*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012326:RNA Splicing; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013569:Synapses / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases