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Query: UNIPROT:P06889 (Mol)
 630,302 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Nitric oxide (NO), derived from L-arginine (L-Arg) by the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is involved in the regulation of several important physiological and pathophysiological functions. The mechanisms by which NO exerts some of its beneficial or detrimental effects include activation of guanylate cyclase, formation of peroxynitrite, apoptosis, and regulation of cyclooxygenase (COX). Cyclooxygenase (COX) is the enzyme that converts arachidonic acid to prostaglandins (PG), prostacyclin (PGI2) and thromboxane A2. The role of NO in the regulation of COX and its importance in physiology, pathology and therapy will be reviewed. Evidence will be presented to suggest that COX enzymes are targets for the physiopathological roles of NO and that once activated in the presence of NO, they represent important transduction mechanisms for its multifaceted actions.
Cell Mol Life Sci 1997 Jul
PMID:Regulation of cyclooxygenase enzymes by nitric oxide. 931 3

Alcohol suppresses reproduction in humans, monkeys and small rodents by suppressing release of luteinizing hormone (LH). The major action is on the hypothalamus to decrease release of LH-releasing hormone (LHRH). The release of LHRH is controlled by nitric oxide (NO). The hypothesized pathway is via norepinephrine-induced release of NO from NOergic neurons which activates LHRH release. We have evaluated details of this process in male rats by incubating medial basal hypothalamic (MBH) explants in vitro and examining the release of NO and metabolites generated by NO which control LHRH release. Norepinephrine increased release of NO as measured by determining the content of the enzyme at the end of the experiment (30 min) by adding [14C]arginine to the homogenate and measuring its conversion to [14C]citrulline since this is formed in equimolar quantities with NO by nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Since this increase in content presumably caused by activation of the enzyme by norepinephrine was blocked by the alpha 1 receptor blocker prazosin, it appears that alpha 1 receptors activate NOS by increasing intracellular free calcium in the NOergic neuron which combines with calmodulin to activate nitric oxide synthase. The release of LHRH induced by nitroprusside (NP), a donor of NO, results in an increase in cyclic (c)GMP in the medium supporting the activation of guanylate cyclase by nitroprusside. This activation is important in releasing LHRH since addition of 8-monobutyryl cGMP also released the peptide. Ethanol had no effect on the content of NO or the increase in content induced by norepinephrine indicating that it did not act on NOS. Earlier experiments indicated that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was important in releasing LHRH. PGE2 is produced by activation of cyclooxygenase by NO since this could occur following addition of the NO donor nitroprusside. Not only does NP increase PGE2 release, but also the conversion of [14C]arachidonic acid to its metabolites, particularly PGE2. Ethanol acts at this step since it completely blocks the release of LHRH induced by NP and the increase in PGE2 induced by NP. Therefore, the results support the theory that norepinephrine acts to stimulate NO release from NOergic neurons. This NO diffuses to the LHRH terminals, where it activates guanylate cyclase, leading to an increase in cGMP. At the same time, it also activates cyclooxygenase. The increase in cGMP increases intracellular free calcium, required for activation of phospholipase A2. Phospholipase A2 converts membrane phospholipids into arachidonic acid, the substrate for conversion by the activated cyclooxygenase to PGE2 which then activates the release of LHRH. Since alcohol inhibits conversion of labeled arachidonic acid to PGE2, it must act either directly to inhibit cyclooxygenase or by some other mechanism which, in turn, inhibits the enzyme.
Mol Psychiatry 1997 Sep
PMID:The mechanism of action of alcohol to suppress gonadotropin secretion. 932 22

Carbon monoxide (CO), an activator of soluble guanylate cyclase and generated enzymatically by heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2), is thought to function as an intra- and intercellular neurotransmitter in the central and peripheral nervous system. In the present study, the distribution of HO-2 in airway nerves from both humans and guinea pigs was assessed. HO-2 was found in all neuronal perikarya of the intrinsic ganglia of guinea-pig airways and in all ganglion nerve cell bodies localized to the trachea and bronchi of humans. By contrast, nerve fibers innervating the smooth muscle, lamina propria, and epithelium of the airways in both species were devoid of HO-2 immunoreactivity. HO-1, the inducible isoform of heme oxygenase, was not found in airway nerves. The pattern of distribution of HO-2 observed suggests that CO might serve as a modulator of synaptic neurotransmission in the lung and airways rather than as a bona fide neurotransmitter in the smooth muscle, vasculature, or glands. Consistent with this hypothesis, 8-bromo-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) (30 microM), a stable, pharmacologically active analog of cGMP, markedly inhibited vagally-mediated cholinergic contractions of the isolated guinea-pig trachea. In subsequent studies, however, neither inhibiting heme oxygenase with zinc protoporphyrin-IX (30 microM) nor inhibiting the soluble isoform of guanylate cyclase with ODQ (3 microM) had measurable effects on vagally-mediated cholinergic contractions of the trachea. These results indicate that CO could play a modulatory role in efferent (parasympathetic) synaptic neurotransmission in the airways, but under normal conditions may not be activated to an appreciable extent during periods of elevated vagal activity.
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 1998 Feb
PMID:Localization of heme oxygenase-2 immunoreactivity to parasympathetic ganglia of human and guinea-pig airways. 947 16

We obtained a primary culture of prostatic cells through explantation from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Structural morphology, immunohistochemical staining, and growth characteristics of these cells demonstrate that they are consistent with the population of smooth muscle cells (SMCs). We examined the influence of a nitric oxide donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), on the regulation of human prostatic SMC proliferation. SNP exhibited a concentration-dependent (0.1-10 microM) inhibition of fetal calf serum-induced proliferation in human prostatic SMCs. In addition, growth-inhibitory responses to 8-bromo-cGMP (1-30 muM) were observed. However, the responses to SNP were significantly diminished by the presence of 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (3 microM; a selective guanylate cyclase inhibitor). Furthermore, SNP induced an increased concentration-dependent accumulation of intracellular cGMP in human prostatic SMCs. After 48-hr period of deprivation of serum, cells were restimulated with serum to permit cell cycle progression. The addition of SNP (10 microM) at various times after the addition of serum to serum-deprived cells showed maximal inhibition of cell proliferation even when added 6 hr after the serum. This blocking effect of cell cycle progression was lost gradually as the delay from serum to SNP application increased from 6 to 18 hr. The membrane-associated protein kinase C (PKC) activity was studied in human prostatic SMCs; results showed that fetal calf serum (10%, v/v) significantly increased membrane-associated PKC activity. SNP (10 muM), which had little effect on basal kinase activity, completely abolished serum-induced augmentation of PKC activity. Therefore, we suggest that SNP mediates its antiproliferative effect by the inhibition of PKC activity on human prostatic SMCs; furthermore, its antiproliferative effect occurs at the early G1 phase of the cell cycle.
Mol Pharmacol 1998 Mar
PMID:Antiproliferative effect in human prostatic smooth muscle cells by nitric oxide donor. 949 13

Organic nitrates undergo enzymatic metabolization in the vasculature to release the active compound nitric oxide (NO). The resulting preferential venodilation has been suggested to be related to the vascular bioactivation process of organic nitrates because sodium nitroprusside, which is bioactivated differently, is not venoselective. We sought to determine whether NO has an influence on vascular bioconversion of organic nitrates because endogenous endothelial production of NO is smaller in veins than in arteries. Rings of porcine coronary arteries were subjected to radioactive glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) after preincubation with defined amounts of NO. The vascular content of GTN and the dinitrates (GDNs) 1,2-GDN and 1,3-GDN then was quantified. NO (3 microM, 30 min) significantly impaired bioactivation of GTN as indicated by a 30-50% reduction in the accumulation of 1,2-GDN and 1,3-GDN, whereas unchanged GTN was increased. Incubation with NO also reduced the stimulated specific activity of soluble guanylate cyclase isolated from human platelets. Its specific activity was reduced from 2.6 +/- 0.2 to 2.1 +/- 0.13 nmol of cGMP/mg/min. Relaxation studies with rings of porcine coronary arteries showed that NO-induced inhibition of vascular GTN metabolism and cGMP accumulation decreased the vasodilator potency of GTN by 10-fold. Further experiments showed that the duration of NO treatment is more important for this effect than the concentration of NO. We suggest that NO can inhibit vascular bioactivation of organic nitrates and might slightly desensitize soluble guanylate cyclase. The preferential venodilation induced by organic nitrates might be the result of the comparably low production of endogenous NO in veins.
Mol Pharmacol 1998 Mar
PMID:Nitric oxide inhibits vascular bioactivation of glyceryl trinitrate: a novel mechanism to explain preferential venodilation of organic nitrates. 949 23

It has been previously shown that vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) induces endothelium-dependent relaxation of the human uterine artery. However, the nature of the mediator of the VIP-induced endothelium-dependent relaxation of the human uterine artery has not yet been determined. Therefore these experiments were undertaken to examine the effects of VIP on human uterine arteries and to establish the role of various endothelial factors on the relaxation induced by VIP. The experiments were performed on isolated human uterine arterial rings. VIP (0.3-100 nM) induced a concentration-dependent relaxation of human uterine arteries with intact endothelium (pEC50 = 8.06+/-0.14, n = 28). After the removal of the endothelium this relaxation was abolished (n = 6). Indomethacin (10 microM), a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, and diethylcarbamazine (100 microM), a lipoxygenase blocker, had no effects on VIP-induced relaxation. In contrast, methylene blue (10 microM), a blocker of guanylate cyclase, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (10 microM), an inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, and 4-aminopyridine (1 mM), a non-selective blocker of K+ channels, antagonized the effect of VIP with suppression of maximal VIP-induced relaxation. Non-competitive antagonism with methylene blue revealed that the pKa value for VIP-receptor complex was 8.10+/-0.10 (n = 6) and the receptor reserve expressed as KA/EC50 was 0.89+/-0.11, where pKa = log10KA, and KA is the dissociation constant of VIP-receptor complex. Therefore, on the basis of the results presented, we can conclude that VIP induces endothelium-dependent relaxation in human uterine arteries, acting as a partial agonist on this blood vessel. It appears that endothelium-dependent relaxation induced by VIP in human uterine artery can be entirely explained by the release of NO from endothelial cells.
Mol Hum Reprod 1998 Jan
PMID:Predominant role for nitric oxide in the relaxation induced by vasoactive intestinal polypeptide in human uterine artery. 951 14

Ca2+-modulated rod outer segment membrane guanylate cyclase (ROS-GC1) has been cloned and reconstituted to show that it is regulated by two processes: one inhibitory, the other stimulatory. The inhibitory process is consistent with its linkage to phototransduction; the physiology of the stimulatory process is probably linked to neuronal transmission. In both regulatory processes, calcium modulation of the cyclase takes place through the calcium binding proteins; guanylate cyclase activating proteins (GCAP1 and GCAP2) in the case of the phototransduction process and calcium-dependent GCAP (CD-GCAP) in the case of the stimulatory process. The cyclase domains involved in the two processes are located at two different sites on the ROS-GC1 intracellular region. The GCAP1-modulated domain resides within the aa 447-730 segment of ROS-GC1 and the CD-GCAP-modulated domain resides within the aa 731-1054 segment. In the present study the GCAP2-dependent Ca2+ modulation of the cyclase activity has been reconstituted using recombinant forms of GCAP2 and ROS-GC1, and its mutants. The results indicate that consistent to phototransduction, GCAP2 at low Ca2+ concentration (10 nM) maximally stimulates the cyclase activity of the wild-type and its mutants: ext (deleted aa 8-408), kin (deleted aa 447-730) and hybrid consisting of the ext, transmembrane and kin domains of ANF-RGC and the C-terminal domain, aa 731-1054, of ROS-GC1. In all cases, it inhibits the cyclase activity with an IC50 of about 140 nM. A previous study has shown that under identical conditions the kin and the hybrid mutant are at best only minimally stimulated. Thus, the GCAP1 and GCAP2 signal transduction mechanisms are different, occurring through different modules of ROS-GC1. These findings also demonstrate that the intracellular region of ROS-GC1 is composed of multiple modules, each designed to mediate a particular calcium-specific signalling pathway.
Mol Cell Biochem 1998 Jan
PMID:Third calcium-modulated rod outer segment membrane guanylate cyclase transduction mechanism. 954 7

Immunological evidence suggest that plants contain natriuretic peptides (NPs) and furthermore (3-[I]iodotyrosol) rat atrial NP (rANP) binds specifically to plant membranes. rANP and immunoaffinity-purified plant NP analogues also promote concentration-dependent stomatal opening. Here we report that kinetin, a synthetic cytokinin, and rANP induce stomatal opening in Tradescantia albiflora and that the effect of rANP is critically dependent on the secondary structure of the peptide hormone. The native circular molecule is active, whereas the linearized molecule shows no biological activity. Furthermore, kinetin- and rANP-induced stomatal opening is reversibly inhibited by two inhibitors of guanylate cyclase, LY 83583 and methylene blue. Stomatal opening is also induced in a concentration-dependent manner by the cell-permeant cyclic guanosine-3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP) analogue 8-Br-cGMP, and this effect is prevented by the stomatal closure promoting plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA). We conclude that in guard cells kinetin and rANP pathways operate via guanylate cyclase upregulation, and we propose that ABA-induced closure is not cGMP-dependent.
Cell Mol Life Sci 1998 Mar
PMID:Stomatal guard cell responses to kinetin and natriuretic peptides are cGMP-dependent. 957 39

The dominant cone-rod dystrophy gene CORD6 has previously been mapped to within an 8 cM interval on chromosome 17p12-p13. The retinal-specific guanylate cyclase gene (RETGC-1), which maps to within this genetic interval and previously was implicated in Leber's congenital amaurosis, was screened for mutations within this family and in a panel of small families and individuals with various cone and cone- rod dystrophy phenotypes. A missense mutation (E837D) was identified in affected members of the CORD6 family, as well as a second missense mutation (R838C) in three other families with dominant cone-rod dystrophy. RETGC-1 is only the fourth gene to be implicated in cone-rod dystrophy and this is the first report of dominant mutations in this gene.
Hum Mol Genet 1998 Jul
PMID:Mutations in the retinal guanylate cyclase (RETGC-1) gene in dominant cone-rod dystrophy. 961 77

Transplanted hearts exhibit depressed contractile function during periods of acute rejection. Myocytes from rejecting hearts also express inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). We hypothesized that an intrinsic defect, due to the increased nitric oxide production by myocytes, is responsible for much of the observed contractile dysfunction. To test our hypothesis, we recorded shortening of myocytes isolated from rejecting (allograft) and non-rejecting (isograft) transplanted rat hearts under control conditions and following exposure to aminoguanidine (an inhibitor of iNOS), or methylene blue (an inhibitor of nitric oxide stimulation of guanylate cyclase). Four days after transplantation, basal shortening was reduced in allograft myocytes compared to isograft myocytes (allografts: 7.0 +/- 0.8 microns; isografts; 10.7 +/- 0.9 microns; P < 0.05). Allograft myocytes also had higher cGMP levels than isograft myocytes (allografts: 0.58 +/- 0.16 pmol/mg protein; isografts: 0.13 +/- 0.08 pmol/mg protein; P < 0.05). Aminoguanidine (1 mM) had no effect on shortening or cGMP levels in isograft myocytes, whereas aminoguanidine significantly reduced cGMP levels and greatly enhanced shortening of allograft myocytes, such that shortening was now similar in allograft and isograft myocytes. Methylene blue (100 microM) also caused a more than three-fold greater increase in shortening of allograft myocytes (+80 +/- 15%) than isograft myocytes (+23 +/- 6%; P < 0.05 from allografts). These results suggest that myocytes isolated from rejecting hearts have a reversible intrinsic contractile depression which is mediated by overstimulation of the nitric oxide/cGMP pathway within the myocytes. This intrinsic contractile dysfunction may be a major factor responsible for the reversible cardiac depression associated with acute rejection of transplanted hearts.
J Mol Cell Cardiol 1998 May
PMID:Myocytes isolated from rejecting transplanted rat hearts exhibit reduced basal shortening which is reversible by aminoguanidine. 961 41


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