Expression of nitric oxide synthase in the developing rat hippocampus.
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry was used to study the development of neurons synthesizing nitric oxide (NO) in the postnatal rat hippocampus. We show that NADPH-d reactive somata and processes are present from the day of birth until adulthood in the Ammon's horn. The dentate gyrus, however, has a more delayed period of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) expression with the staining appearing only by the end of the first postnatal week. Our results suggest that the time course of NOS expression correlates with the developmental sequence of events described in the hippocampus and that NO could be involved in the development of connections in this structure.
Moritz
G C
GC
Departamento de Histologia e Embriologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomedicas, UFRJ, Cidade Universitaria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Tenorio
F
F
Allodi
S
S
Mendez-Otero
R
R
D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D008058:Dihydrolipoamide Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D008058:Dihydrolipoamide Dehydrogenase