title: Production of nitric oxide and transforming growth factor-beta in developing and adult rat brain.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) has been suggested to have a neurotoxic role in the brain, while transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) has been considered to be a suppressor of inflammatory cytokine release. The amounts of these modulators that are released by rat brain cultures were measured for tissue obtained from rats of different maturational age groups: weanling (3 weeks), young (3 months), and middle-aged (12 months) rats. Basal levels of brain-derived NO increased with age. This was attributed to brain microglial-derived NO. Culturing of the brain tissue with LPS or PGE2 further increased the amount of NO elaborated from brain cultures of 3-week-old and 3-month-old rats to a level that was similar to the high amounts detected in unstimulated brain cultures from 12-month-old rats. Stimulation of brain cultures from 12-month-old rats did not further enhance NO levels. In contrast to the maturation-associated increase in NO production, levels of brain-derived bioactive TGF-beta declined with age. LPS and PGE2 increased the amount of bioactive TGF-beta released by brain cultures of each rat age group, but there nevertheless remained an age-related reduction in active TGF-beta levels. These results suggest a possible developmental association between an enhancement of brain-derived NO and a concomitant decline in brain TGF-beta.
authors.affiliation: Research Service, Hines V.A. Hospital, IL 60141, USA.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Farietta
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Crayton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001481:Basal Metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015232:Dinoprostone / Q000494:pharmacology; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D015232:Dinoprostone