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Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The morphological appearance and quantitative parameters characterizing the dendrites of NADPH-diaphorase-stained neurons in the laterodorsal (LDT) and pedunculopontine (PPN) tegmental nuclei of 3-, 12- and 26-month-old rats were studied. All dendritic segments were classified according to the number of terminal and link segments they drain and the vertex analysis was used to quantify the dendritic tree and to determine its configuration. Morphological aberrations of the dendrites as local swelling, nodulation, thinning, shrinkage, folding and even the appearance of stumps were observed with advancing age. The quantitative analysis demonstrated a significant reduction (one-way ANOVA) of the total dendritic length, mean terminal path length, maximal segment length, total segment number and number of terminal segments at the rostral two thirds of the LDT and in the PPN. The mean vertex path length and the mean segment length significantly decreased only at the rostral level of the LDT. Plotting of the segment length against equivalent orders showed a decrease in all generations of the dendritic segments. The vertex ratios remained constant and indicated that the configuration of the dendritic tree remained unchanged during aging. The alterations in the dendrites mainly developed after 12 months of age. The age-related changes in the morphology and quantitative parameters of the dendrites in the rostral two thirds of the LDT and PPN were rather similar, which could be explained by the common anatomical, neurochemical and electrophysiological features. Thus, the present results suggest a mild, but continuous regression of the dendritic tree of the rat LDT and PPN in normal aging.
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PMID:Aging and the dendritic morphology of the rat laterodorsal and pedunculopontine tegmental nuclei. 923 33

This study was performed to examine the roles of body temperature, NMDA receptors and nitric oxide (NO) synthase in post-ischemic retinal injury in rats. Cell loss in the ganglion cell layer and thinning of the inner plexiform layer were observed 7 days after ischemia. Cell loss in the ganglion cell layer but not thinning of the inner plexiform layer was reduced by hypothermia during ischemia. Intravenous injection of dizocilpine (MK-801) or Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) prior to ischemia ameliorated retinal injury. These results suggest that activation of NO synthase following NMDA receptor stimulation is involved in ischemia-induced retinal injury.
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PMID:Inhibition of NMDA receptors and nitric oxide synthase reduces ischemic injury of the retina. 968 14

DBA/2J (D2) mice develop a form of progressive pigmentary glaucoma with increasing age. We have compared retinal cell populations of D2 mice with those in control C57BL/6J mice to provide information on retinal histopathology in the D2 mouse. The D2 mouse retina is characterized by a reduction in retinal thickness caused mainly by a thinning of the inner retinal layers. Immunocytochemical staining for specific inner retinal neuronal markers, viz., calbindin for horizontal cells; protein kinase C (PKC) and recoverin for bipolar cells, glycine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) for amacrine cells, and osteopontin (OPN) for ganglion cells, was performed to detect preferentially affected neurons in the D2 mouse retina. Calbindin, PKC, and recoverin immunoreactivities were not significantly altered. Amacrine cells immunoreactive for GABA, ChAT, and OPN were markedly decreased in number, whereas NOS-immunoreactive amacrine cells increased in number. However, no changes were observed in the population of glycine-immunoreactive amacrine cells. These findings indicate a significant loss of retinal ganglion and some amacrine cells, whereas glycinergic amacrine cells, horizontal, and bipolar cells are almost unaffected in the D2 mouse. The reduction in amacrine cells appears to be attributable to a loss of GABAergic and particularly cholinergic amacrine cells. The increase in nitrergic neurons with the consequent increase in NOS and NO may be important in the changes in the retinal organization that lead to glaucomain D2 mice. Thus, the D2 mouse retina represents a useful model for studying the pathogenesis of glaucoma and mechanisms of retinal neuronal death and for evaluating neuroprotection strategies.
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PMID:Changes in retinal neuronal populations in the DBA/2J mouse. 1571 80

Brief ischemia was reported to protect retinal cells against injury induced by subsequent ischemia-reperfusion with de novo protein synthesis, and this phenomenon is known as late ischemic preconditioning. The aims of the present study were to determine whether nitric oxide synthase (NOS) was involved in the mechanism of late ischemic preconditioning in rat retina using pharmacological tools. Under anesthesia with pentobarbital sodium, male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to 60 min of retinal ischemia by raising intraocular pressure to 130 mm Hg. Ischemic preconditioning was achieved by applying 5 min of ischemia 24 hrs before 60 min of ischemia. Retinal sections sliced into 5 microm thick were examined 7 days after ischemia. Additional groups of rats received NG-nitro-L-arginine and NG-monomethyl-L-arginin, non-selective NO synthase inhibitors, 7-nitroindazole, a neuronal NOS inhibitor, and aminoguanidine and L-N6-(1-iminoethyl) lysine, inducible NO synthase (iNOS) inhibitors before preconditioning, and were subjected to 60 min of ischemia. In the non-preconditioned group, cell loss in the ganglion cell layer and thinning of the inner plexiform and inner nuclear layer were observed 7 days after 60 min of ischemia. Ischemic preconditioning for 5 min completely protected against the histological damage induced by 60 min of ischemia applied 24 hrs thereafter. Treatment of rats with aminoguanidine and L-N6-(1-iminoethyl) lysine, but not NG-nitro-L-arginine, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine or 7-nitroindazole, wiped off the protective effect of ischemic preconditioning. The inhibitory effect of aminoguanidine was abolished by L-arginine, but not D-arginine. The results in the present study suggest that NO synthesized by iNOS is involved in the histological protection by late ischemic preconditioning in rat retina.
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PMID:Inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitors abolished histological protection by late ischemic preconditioning in rat retina. 1619 35

We assessed the role of nitric oxide (NO) and the kinin B2 receptor in mediating tissue kallikrein's actions in intramyocardial inflammation and cardiac remodeling after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Adenovirus carrying the human tissue kallikrein gene was delivered locally into rat hearts 4 days prior to 30-minute ischemia followed by 24-hour or 7-day reperfusion with or without administration of icatibant, a kinin B2 receptor antagonist, or N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor. Kallikrein gene delivery improved cardiac contractility and diastolic function, reduced infarct size at 1 day after I/R without affecting mean arterial pressure. Kallikrein treatment reduced macrophage/monocyte and neutrophil accumulation in the infarcted myocardium in association with reduced intercellular adhesion molecule-1 levels. Kallikrein increased cardiac endothelial nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation and NO levels and decreased superoxide formation, TGF-beta1 levels and Smad2 phosphorylation. Furthermore, kallikrein reduced I/R-induced JNK, p38MAPK, IkappaB-alpha phosphorylation and nuclear NF-kappaB activation. In addition, kallikrein improved cardiac performance, reduced infarct size and prevented ventricular wall thinning at 7 days after I/R. The effects of kallikrein on cardiac function, inflammation and signaling mediators were all blocked by icatibant and L-NAME. These results indicate that tissue kallikrein through kinin B2 receptor and NO formation improves cardiac function, prevents inflammation and limits left ventricular remodeling after myocardial I/R by suppression of oxidative stress, TGF-beta1/Smad2 and JNK/p38MAPK signaling pathways and NF-kappaB activation.
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PMID:Nitric oxide mediates cardiac protection of tissue kallikrein by reducing inflammation and ventricular remodeling after myocardial ischemia/reperfusion. 1806 96

In birds, the choroid plays a role in the visual regulation of eye growth, thickening in response to myopic defocus, and thinning in response to hyperopic defocus, in both cases moving the retina towards the image plane. This response is rapid, occurring within hours of the defocus stimulus. These changes are consistently associated with slower changes in the sclera, that result in the appropriate changes in axial elongation, decreasing growth in response to myopic defocus and increasing it in response to hyperopic defocus. The molecular mechanisms underlying the scleral response involve changes in the synthesis of extracellular matrix molecules, however, those underlying the changes in choroidal thickness are not known. However, evidence suggests that it may involve the gaseous signal molecule nitric oxide, as nitric oxide is a potent smooth muscle relaxant, and injections of the non-specific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME transiently inhibits the thickening response. Interestingly, it also dis-inhibits ocular growth, in accordance with a mechanistic link between the two responses. If nitric oxide is part of the signal cascade underlying the visual regulation of eye growth, it would be important to ascertain the source of the molecule. As a first step towards doing so, we used various more specific NOS inhibitors and studied their effects on the choroidal and growth responses. Birds (7-12 days old) were fitted with +10 D lenses on one eye. On that day, single intravitreal injections (30 microl) of the following inhibitors were used: nNOS inhibitor N(omega)-propyl-L-arginine (n=12), iNOS inhibitor L-NIL (n=16), eNOS/iNOS inhibitor L-NIO (n=15), non-specific inhibitor L-NMMA (n=30) or physiological saline (n=18). Ocular dimensions were measured using high-frequency A-scan ultrasonography at the start of the experiment, and at 7, 24 and 48 h after. We found that the nNOS inhibitor N(omega)-propyl-L-arginine had the same inhibitory effects on the choroidal response, and dis-inhibition of the growth response, as did L-NAME; neither of the other inhibitors had any effect except L-NMMA. We conclude that the choroidal compensatory response is influenced by nNOS, possibly from the intrinsic choroidal neurons, or the parasympathetic innervation from the ciliary and/or pterygopalatine ganglia.
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PMID:Inhibiting the neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase has similar effects on the compensatory choroidal and axial responses to myopic defocus in chicks as does the non-specific inhibitor L-NAME. 1945 Apr 49

Chronic ethanol consumption has deleterious effects on the cardiovascular system by directly damaging the myocardial structure and/or by neurohormonal activation. Moreover, nitric oxide (NO) derived from neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) seems to be important to balance the harmful effects of ethanol consumption, because it influences several aspects of cardiac physiology and attenuates pathological cardiac remodeling. However, the impact of chronic ethanol consumption on nNOS expression is unknown. We address this subject in the present study by evaluating whether chronic ethanol consumption induces cardiac remodeling and hypertension, and if these changes are associated with alterations in the expression of nNOS. Male Wistar rats were examined after ingesting a 20% alcohol solution for 6 months. Blood alcohol concentration and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels were measured. The cardiac remodeling was assessed by histomorphometric analysis and the nNOS expression was evaluated by immunofluorescence and western blot analysis. Our results show that chronic ethanol consumption induces cardiac remodeling, namely thinning of left ventricular wall, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and increased fibrosis, and elevations of arterial blood pressure. They also show that in rats fed with ethanol for 6 months, the circulating BNP levels had decreased as well as the expression of nNOS in left ventricle cardiomyocytes. These findings suggest that the effects of chronic ethanol consumption on BNP levels and/or on nNOS expression in cardiomyocytes may contribute to aggravate the cardiac remodeling and leads to progression of cardiomyopathy.
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PMID:nNOS is involved in cardiac remodeling induced by chronic ethanol consumption. 2559 24

The lack of effective therapies to limit neurovascular injury in ischemic retinopathy is a major clinical problem. This study aimed to examine the role of ureohydrolase enzyme, arginase 1 (A1), in retinal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. A1 competes with nitric oxide synthase (NOS) for their common substrate L-arginine. A1-mediated L-arginine depletion reduces nitric oxide (NO) formation by NOS leading to vascular dysfunction when endothelial NOS is involved but prevents inflammatory injury when inducible NOS is involved. Studies were performed using wild-type (WT) mice, global A1+/- knockout (KO), endothelial-specific A1 KO, and myeloid-specific A1 KO mice subjected to retinal IR injury. Global as well as myeloid-specific A1 KO mice showed worsened IR-induced neuronal loss and retinal thinning. Deletion of A1 in endothelial cells had no effect, while treatment with PEGylated (PEG) A1 improved neuronal survival in WT mice. In addition, A1+/- KO mice showed worsened vascular injury manifested by increased acellular capillaries. Western blotting analysis of retinal tissue showed increased inflammatory and necroptotic markers with A1 deletion. In vitro experiments showed that macrophages lacking A1 exhibit increased inflammatory response upon LPS stimulation. PEG-A1 treatment dampened this inflammatory response and decreased the LPS-induced metabolic reprogramming. Moreover, intravitreal injection of A1 KO macrophages or systemic macrophage depletion with clodronate liposomes increased neuronal loss after IR injury. These results demonstrate that A1 reduces IR injury-induced retinal neurovascular degeneration via dampening macrophage inflammatory responses. Increasing A1 offers a novel strategy for limiting neurovascular injury and promoting macrophage-mediated repair.
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PMID:Arginase 1 promotes retinal neurovascular protection from ischemia through suppression of macrophage inflammatory responses. 3025 18