Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P20366 (substance P)
 21,176 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In the recent years it has been recognized that nitric oxide is an important regulator of ocular blood flow. Nitric oxide is involved in the control of basal blood flow in the choroid, optic nerve and the retina. In addition, nitric oxide mediates a number of vasodilator responses in ocular vessels to agonists such as acetylcholine, bradykinin, histamine, substance P and insulin. Nitric oxide also plays a role in hypercapnia-induced vasodilation in the choroid and is a modulator of pressure autoregulation in this vascular bed. Abnormalities of the L-arginine/nitric oxide system have been observed in a variety of ocular diseases including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. This makes the L-arginine/nitric oxide pathway an attractive target for therapeutic interventions. Additional research is required, particularly in characterizing the role of the three nitric oxide synthase isoforms in the control of ocular perfusion, to implement this concept into the clinical management of ocular diseases.
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PMID:Role of nitric oxide in the control of ocular blood flow. 1158 19

Experimental animal models of disc degeneration have been used to assess the biomechanical behavior, biochemical composition, and biological changes in the intervertebral discs. The objective of our study was to evaluate the anabolic and anti-catabolic effects of intradiscal injection of Osteogenic Protein-1 (OP-1) by histology and immunohistochemistry in disc degeneration model. Thirty-four rats were divided into five groups: intact control; sham control; compressed nucleus pulposus (NP) injected with saline; and two OP-1 groups: COP-1 group (compression was continued after intradiscal OP-1 injection) and ROP-1 group (compression was released at the time of OP-1 injection). Anabolic and anti-catabolic effects of OP-1 were evaluated by histology and immunohistochemistry with the following antibodies: anti-pro- and anti-mature OP-1, anti-MMP-13, anti-aggrecanase, anti-substance P, anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and anti-interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta). The OP-1 injection to the degenerative disc stimulated an anabolic response characterized by the restoration of the normal morphology of the disc, increased Safranin O staining in the NP, extention of the extracellular matrix, and stimulation of endogenous OP-1 synthesis in the NP, annulus fibrosis (AF), and end-plate. The anti-catabolic effect of OP-1 was documented by reduced immunostaining for aggrecanase, MMP-13, substance P, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta. This study confirmed the anti-catabolic activity of OP-1 as demonstrated previously in human articular cartilage and provided critical evidence for the potential of OP-1 therapy in the treatment of disc degeneration. Because substance P is a neuropeptide linked with inflammation and pain, a reduction in the level of this protein may support our previously reported results on the effect of OP-1 on pain-related behavior.
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PMID:Anti-catabolic effect of OP-1 in chronically compressed intervertebral discs. 1720 67