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)

Recent studies have suggested that nitric oxide (NO) may function as both an intracellular and intercellular signal that affects neural and immunological activity, vascular tone, platelet adhesion, and production of some hormones. Arginine analogs such as NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) and N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) act to inhibit the intracellular formation of NO and have been used to study the effects of decreased NO formation on physiological systems. A single in vivo study has suggested that a similar analog, NG-nitro-L-arginine, increases serum testosterone (T), but the organ site and mechanism of action were not investigated. The present study was performed to investigate the effects of NO synthase inhibitors on Leydig cell function. L-NMMA and L-NAME, but not the inactive enantiomer (D-NMMA), increased both basal and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)-stimulated T production while decreasing guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP). There was no effect on either adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation or specific hCG binding. These results suggest that NO formation, which is inhibited by L-NMMA and L-NAME, is important in the regulation of Leydig cell T production by interstitial cells of the testis, and that changes in cGMP levels might be involved in this process.
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PMID:Evidence to suggest nitric oxide is an interstitial regulator of Leydig cell steroidogenesis. 786 21

The participation of the nitric oxide (NO) pathway in downregulation of testicular steroidogenesis in normal and stressed rats was investigated both in vivo and in vitro. In Leydig cells from normal animals, isosorbide dinitrate, an NO donor, decreased the human chorionic gonadotropin (CG)-stimulated and progesterone-derived androgen production. Also, the intratesticular injection of a precursor of NO, arginine (10 mg/testis), transiently decreased serum androgen levels and inhibited human CG-stimulated androgen production in acute testicular cultures. These effects were eliminated in rats cotreated with Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (2 X 600 microg/each testis). Acute immobilization stress (2 h) decreased serum androgen levels and inhibited human CG-stimulated androgen production in vitro. These effects were accompanied by a significant increase in nitrite, a stable oxidation product of NO, in testicular cultures. Bilateral intratesticular injection of L-NAME prevented the stress-induced decrease of human CG-stimulated androgen production, and significantly reduced the nitrite levels. These results implicate NO in normal and stress-impaired testicular steroidogenesis.
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PMID:The involvement of nitric oxide in stress-impaired testicular steroidogenesis. 965 69

In the present study, follicular fluids of estrous mares treated with saline solution (Control) or nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors were analyzed for nitric oxide (NO), estradiol-17beta (E2) and progesterone (P4) concentrations before and 36h after administration of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Follicular fluids obtained before (0h) hCG administration from control mares had lower concentrations of NO than those obtained 36h after administration of hCG (58.3+/-17.8 micromol versus 340.4+/-57.7 micromol; P<0.05). A similar pattern was also noted for intrafollicular P4 in control mares, which had lower concentrations of intrafollicular P4 before hCG than 36h post-hCG administration (P<0.05). As expected, E2 concentrations of control follicles sampled before hCG administration were higher than those sampled 36h post-hCG administration (P<0.05). However, the E2 concentrations in follicles of mares treated with the NOS inhibitors N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) or aminoguanidine (AG) did not decrease after hCG administration, unlike those in control mares (P>0.10). In addition, mares treated with NOS inhibitors had lower intrafollicular concentrations of NO and P4 than control mares, both before and after hCG administration (P<0.05). Increased intrafollicular concentrations of NO in control, hCG-stimulated mares provide evidence for the presence of an NO-generating system in the equine preovulatory follicle that is likely upregulated following administration of hCG.
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PMID:Concentrations of nitric oxide in equine preovulatory follicles before and after administration of human chorionic gonadotropin. 1293 60