title: Age-related changes of the nitric oxide system in the rat brain.
abstract: This work examines the age-related changes of the NO pathway in the central nervous system (CNS), analyzing nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoform expression, the level of nitrotyrosine-modified proteins, and the NOS activity in the cerebral cortex, decorticated brain (basal ganglia, thalamus, hypothalamus, tegtum and tegmentum) and cerebellum of young, adult and aged rats. Our data demonstrate that the different NOS isoforms are not uniformly expressed across the CNS. In this sense, the nNOS and eNOS isoenzymes are expressed mainly in the cerebellum and decorticated brain, respectively, while the iNOS isoenzyme shows the highest level in cerebellum. Concerning age, in the cerebral cortex nNOS significantly increased its expression only in adult animals; meanwhile, in the cerebellum the eNOS expression decreased whereas iNOS increased in adult and aged rats. No age-related changes in any isoform were found in decorticated brain. NOS activity, determined by nitrate plus nitrite quantification, registered the highest levels in the cerebellum, where the significant increase detected with aging was probably related to iNOS activity. The number of nitrotyrosine-modified immunoreactive bands differed among regions; thus, the highest number was detected in the decorticated brain while the cerebellum showed the least number of bands. Finally, bulk protein nitration increased in cerebral cortex only in adult animal. No changes were found in the decorticated brain, and the decrease detected in the cerebellum of aged animals was not significant. According to these results, the NO pathway is differently modified with age in the three CNS regions analyzed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Biology, University of Jaén, Paraje Las Lagunillas s/n, E-23071, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Siles
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martínez-Lara
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cañuelo
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: López-Ramos
authors.forename: María Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Del Moral
authors.forename: Francisco José
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.forename: Santos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: Juan Angel
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Pedrosa
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodrigo
authors.forename: María Angeles
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Peinado
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002541:Cerebral Decortication; D008297:Male; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism*; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D009573:Nitrites / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D009566:Nitrates; D009573:Nitrites; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; C496322:Nos1 protein, rat; C496318:Nos2 protein, rat; C496316:Nos3 protein, rat