title: Nitric oxide-induced polycystic ovaries in the wistar rat.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nitric oxide (NO) involves in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a cause of infertility in women during the reproductive age. The PCOS is now categorized as an inflammatory phenomenon. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of NO, a proinflammatory agent, in this syndrome at histological and biochemical levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this experimental study, animals were female Wistar rats (weighing 200-250 g) kept under standard conditions. L-Arginine (50-200 mg/kg), a precursor of NO, was injected intra-peritoneally (i.p.) through a period ranging from 9 to14 days/ once a day. The rats' estrous cycle was studied using Papanicolaou test; those showing phase of Diestrous were grouped into experimental and control groups. The control group solely received saline (1 ml/kg, i.p.) throughout all experiments. To evaluate the inflammatory effect of NO, the rats were treated an anti-inflammatory agent, naloxone hydrochloride (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.), prior to L-arginine. At the end of the treatment period all animals' ovaries were assessed for histopathological and histochemical investigations. Also, activation of NO synthase (NOS) in the experiments was studied using NADPH-diaphorase technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ovaries of rats treated with L-arginine showed polycystic characteristics in contrast to those collected from control or naloxone pretreated groups, based on image analysis. A difference in enzyme activation was also shown in the sections that belonged to the groups that received L-arginine when compared with the pre-naloxone and control groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on these results, we believe that NO may play a major role in the pathophysiology of PCOS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hassani
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Manizheh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karami
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ph D 1
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: 1
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jalali Nadoushan
authors.affiliation: Department of Embryology, Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Poopak Eftekhari
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Yazdi
keywords: L-Arginine; NADPH-Diaphorase; Naloxone; Nitric oxide; PCOS