title: Dissociation of nitric oxide synthase immunoreactivity and NADPH-diaphorase enzyme activity in rat pituitary.
abstract: The relationship between nitric oxide synthase (NOS) immunocytochemistry and NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry was investigated in the anterior and posterior pituitary of ovariectomized rats. NADPH-d activity was present throughout the posterior pituitary but could not be detected in the anterior pituitary. By contrast, an antibody raised against whole recombinant rat neuronal NOS revealed strongly NOS-immunoreactive gonadotrophs and folliculo-stellate cells scattered throughout the anterior pituitary in addition to immunoreactive fibres in the posterior pituitary. The study demonstrates that NADPH-d histochemistry is not always coincident with NOS and provides evidence for an as yet uncharacterized subtype of NOS in the rat anterior pituitary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Anatomy, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Christian
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Morris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism*; D010052:Ovariectomy; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000201:enzymology*; D010903:Pituitary Gland, Anterior / Q000201:enzymology; D010904:Pituitary Gland, Posterior / Q000201:enzymology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase