Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0406810 (NAME)
 13,345 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This study set out to identify the neurotransmitters involved in autonomic vasodilatation of the guinea pig uterine artery. Non-noradrenergic, paracervical neurons supplying this artery contain at least four neuropeptides: vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), dynorphin A (1-17) and somatostatin, probably in addition to acetylcholine. Transmural nerve stimulation of arterial segments precontracted with phenylephrine (3 x 10(-7) mol l-1 and treated with guanethidine (10(-6) mol l-1), produced relaxations which varied in form with the frequency of stimulation and the length of the pulse train. The relaxations were monophasic at low frequencies (< 2 Hz), and were biphasic at higher frequencies (> 5 Hz) and with longer pulse trains (> 50 pulses). Neither phase of the relaxations was reduced by hyoscine (10(-6) mol l-1), or by removal of the endothelium. The faster phase of the relaxations was selectively reduced (by 61%) during treatment with L-nitro-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; up to 3 x 10(-5) mol l-1). This reduction was reversed by an excess of L-arginine, indicating that the fast relaxation was mediated by nitric oxide, possibly acting as a neurotransmitter. The slower phase of the neurogenic relaxation was preferentially reduced (by 43%) by the endopeptidase, trypsin (1-3 micrograms.ml-1). As VIP is the only currently identified peptide present in the paracervical neurons which causes vasodilatation, it is likely that VIP, or a closely-related peptide, is the transmitter responsible for the slow relaxation. Acetylcholine and an opioid peptide also seem to be released from the vasodilator neurons, but their effects were small, and may have been restricted to pre-synaptic sites. The slower neurogenic relaxations were inhibited by exogenous neuropeptide Y (68% reduction in amplitude), and were slightly potentiated by somatostatin (21% increase in amplitude). Therefore, endogenous stores of these peptides may also contribute to the sum effect of stimulating the paracervical vasodilator neurons. In conclusion, many different substances may act as autonomic co-transmitters from these pelvic vasodilator neurons.
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PMID:Co-transmission from autonomic vasodilator neurons supplying the guinea pig uterine artery. 809 24

The pharmacological effects of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors, NO donor, and NOS substrate on dynorphin(Dyn) A(1-17) spinal neurotoxicity were studied. Intrathecal (i.t.) pretreatment with both 7-nitroindazole 1 micromol, a selective neuronal constitutive NOS (ncNOS) inhibitor, and aminoguanidine 1 micromol, a selective inducible NOS (iNOS) inhibitor, 10 min prior to i.t. Dyn A(1-17) 20 nmol significantly ameliorated Dyn-induced neurological outcome. Both 7-nitroindazole and aminoguanidine significantly antagonized the increases of cNOS and iNOS activities measured by conversion of 3H-L-arginine to 3H-L-citrulline in the ventral spinal cord, and blocked the Dyn-induced increases of ncNOS-immunoreactivity in the ventral horn cells 4 h after i.t. Dyn A(1-17) 20 nmol. Pretreatment with Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) 1 micromol, a cNOS inhibitor nonselective to both ncNOS and endothelial NOS (ecNOS), did not antagonize Dyn A(1-17) 20 nmol-induced permanent paraplegia but aggravated Dyn A(1-17) 10 nmol-induced transient paralysis and caused permanent paraplegia. Pretreatment with L-NAME 1 micromol 10 min before i.t. Dyn A(1-17) 1.25 and 2.5 nmol, which produced no significant motor dysfunction alone, induced transient paralysis in seven out of 12 and five out of seven rats, respectively. L-NAME 1 micromol plus Dyn A(1-17) 10 nmol induced ncNOS-immunoreactivity expression in ventral horn cells. Both low and high doses of aminoguanidine (0.2-30 micromol) did not affect spinal motor function, but high doses of L-NAME (5-20 micromol) induced dose-dependent hindlimb and tail paralysis associated with spinal cord injury in normal rats. Pretreatment with low-dose Spermine NONOate, a controlled NO releaser, 0.1 and 0.5 micromol 10 min before i.t. Dyn A(1-17) 20 nmol, significantly prevented Dyn spinal neurotoxicity, and high-dose Spermine NONOate 2 micromol i.t. per se induced transient and incomplete paraplegia. But pretreatment with L-Arg 10 micromol 10 min before Dyn A(1-17) 20 nmol produced only partial blockade of Dyn-induced paraplegia. These results demonstrated that relatively specific inhibition of ncNOS and iNOS block Dyn-induced increases in cNOS and iNOS activities and ncNOS-immunoreactivity in ventral spinal cord, but nonspecific inhibition of ncNOS and ecNOS aggravated Dyn spinal neurotoxicity. It suggested that both ncNOS and iNOS play an important role, but ecNOS might be beneficial in Dyn spinal neurotoxicity. Moderate production of NO (at vascular level) has an apparently neuroprotective effect, and overproduction of NO (at cellular level) induces neurotoxicity.
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PMID:Dual role for nitric oxide in dynorphin spinal neurotoxicity. 998 68

The possibility that nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors influence dynorphin immunoreactivity following hyperthermia was examined in a rat model using a pharmacological approach. Previous reports from our laboratory show that hyperthermia induces an upregulation of NOS in several brain regions that seems to be instrumental in causing cell injury. Recent reports suggest that nitric oxide (NO) can influence dynorphin neurotransmission in the normal brain as well as in several pathological states. Since dynorphin is neurotoxic in different animal models of brain or spinal cord injury, it may be that the peptide will contribute to the cell injury in hyperthermia. The present investigation was carried out to determine whether hyperthermia can influence dynorphin immunoreactivity in the brain, and if so, whether inhibition of NOS will influence the peptide distribution in the brain following heat stress. Rats subjected to hyperthermia at 38 degrees C for 4 h in a biological oxygen demand incubator (BOD) resulted in a marked upregulation of dynorphin immunoreactivity in several brain regions e.g., cerebral cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum and brain stem. Pretreatment of rats with two potent NOS inhibitors, L-NAME (30 mg/kg/day, i.p. for 7 days) or L-NMMA (35 mg/kg/day, i.p. for 7 days) significantly attenuated the dynorphin immunoreactivity in the brain. These drugs were also able to reduce hyperthermia induced blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, brain edema formation and cell injury. Taken together, our results suggest that (i). hyperthermia has the capacity to upregulate dynorphin immunoreactivity in the brain, (ii). inhibition of NOS considerably attenuates the dynorphin immunoreaction following heat stress and (iii). upregulation of dynorphin is somehow contributing to hyperthermia induced brain damage, not reported earlier.
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PMID:Nitric oxide synthase inhibitors influence dynorphin A (1-17) immunoreactivity in the rat brain following hyperthermia. 1237 45

3H-thymidine autoradiography and chemiluminescence study demonstrated pronounced effect of dalargin on the state of the gastric mucosa in albino rats. Dalargin stimulated DNA synthesis in the epithelium of the gastric mucosa and increased buffer capacity of its antiradical and antioxidant systems. Dalargin analogue not containing arginine ([D-Ala2]-leu-enkephalin) had little effect on these parameters. NO synthase inhibitor L-NAME abolished the effects of dalargin on DNA synthesis in the gastric mucosa. Our results suggest that the NO system plays an important role in the effect of dalargin on the gastric mucosa.
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PMID:Effect of dalargin on DNA synthesis in the gastric mucosa of albino rats. 1845 24