title: L-arginine enhances muscle regeneration after experimental envenomation by B. jararacussu: a future for nitric oxide-based therapy?
abstract: We investigated whether muscle fiber regeneration would be rescued by exogenous administration of l-arginine, the precursor of endogenous synthesis of nitric oxide. The right tibialis anterioris muscle of adult mice (n=20) was injected with 80 microg of venom. One group of mice (n=10) received drinking water containing l-arginine (3.75 mg/ml) and another group (n=10) did not receive any pharmacological treatment. Two months later, muscle regeneration was evaluated by counting the total number of muscle fibers. We found that in l-arginine-treated mice, muscle regeneration was significantly higher (p<0.05) than in saline-treated (2.230+/-478 muscle fibers versus 1.005+/-134, respectively) although the level of muscle fiber population of uninjured tibialis anterioris muscle (3.121+/-102) was not attained. These results show that muscle regeneration was significantly facilitated by l-arginine and suggest that pharmacological activators of the NO pathway may be potentially useful for improving muscle regeneration in human envenomation by B. jararacussu.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anatomia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), CP 6109, CEP 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Humberto Santo
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.forename: Viviane Urbini
authors.initials: VU
authors.lastname: Vomero
authors.forename: Maria Júlia
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Marques
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017837:Bothrops; D003435:Crotalid Venoms / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009132:Muscles / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D003435:Crotalid Venoms; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D001120:Arginine