title: Investigation of nitric oxide in pterygium.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of nitric oxide in pterygium.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty nasal pterygium tissue samples were collected from 20 surgery patients in Kahramanmaras Sutcuimam University hospital. For control purposes, nasal conjunctivas from 10 patients undergoing limbal extracapsular cataract extraction were also collected. All specimens were preserved at -70 degrees C until analysis. The specimens were tested for the presence of nitric oxide and superoxide dismutase with the Griess and Fridovich methods, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the patients in the control group was 45.6 (+/- 13.2) years, and 53.7 (+/- 15.8) years in the pterygium group. We found that nitric oxide and superoxide dismutase levels were significantly higher in the control group (p < 0.05). The level of superoxide dismutase was 747.8 +/- 524.4 units/mg of protein in the normal conjunctiva and 184.2 +/- 163.9 units/mg of protein in the pterygium group. The nitric oxide level was 1.5 +/- 0.9 micromol/mg of protein in the normal conjunctiva and 0.4 +/- 0.4 micromol/mg of protein in pterygium.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The low level of nitric oxide may have some role on pterygium development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kahramanmaras Sutcuimam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. gozdemir@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Gokhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Inanc
authors.forename: Metin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kilinc
mesh_terms: D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007120:Immunochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D011625:Pterygium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase