The distribution, colocalisation, and interconnections of nitrinergic and peptidergic neurons and nerves in the human oesophagus were examined. Cryosections of surgically resected tissues from eight subjects were studied with indirect immunofluorescence for the presence of 11 neuropeptides and neuron specific enolase. After immunohistochemistry, nitric oxide synthase was shown on the same secti...

Nitric oxide (NO) hyperpolarizes intestinal smooth muscle cells. This study was designed to determine the mechanism whereby NO activates KCa channels of circular smooth muscle of the rabbit colon. Transmural biopsies of the rabbit colon were stained for NADPH-diaphorase. Freshly dispersed circular smooth muscle cells were studied in the whole cell configuration, as well as in on-cell and excise...

The human colon can dilate, often to life-threatening proportions. Our aim was to explore nitrergic mechanisms underlying colonic dilation in conscious dogs with enterically isolated ileocolonic loops either extrinsically innervated (n = 4) or extrinsically denervated (n = 4). We recorded phasic pressures in ileum and ileocolonic sphincter (ICS), colonic tone, compliance, and relaxation during ...

Fetal frontal cortex transplants that survived 2-9 months in cavities in adult rat motor/sensory cortex were processed for vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), somatostatin 14 (SS), and neuropeptide Y (NPY) immunocytochemistry, and NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry. All transplants had surviving VIP, SS, NPY, and NADPH-d neuronal perikarya and fibers with normal adult morphology. Th...

Paraquat (PQ) is a well described pneumotoxicant that produces toxicity by redox cycling with cellular diaphorases, thereby elevating intracellular levels of superoxide (O-(2)). NO synthase (NOS) has been shown to participate in PQ-induced lung injury. Current theory holds that NO reacts with O-(2) generated by PQ to produce the toxin peroxynitrite. We asked whether NOS might alternatively func...

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate reduced-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry was investigated in the axolotl (Ambystoma tigrinum) inner ear. Hair cells showed an intense NADPH-d reaction; afferent neurones also stained but less intensely than hair cells. Effects of NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG) on the basal discharge and mechanical responses of semicircular canal afferent neurones re...

This paper is a light microscopical study describing the detailed morphology and quantitative distribution of local circuit neurones in areas 25, 32, and 24b of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the rat. Cortical interneurones were identified immunocytochemically by their expression of calretinin (CR), parvalbumin (PV), and calbindin D-28k (CB) immunoreactivity. Neurones immunoreactive for...

Folium mori, the leaves of Morus alba L., has traditionally been used for the treatment of diabetic hyperglycemia. It has been shown to induce enhanced NOS expression in the hypothalamus of rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. In the present study, the effect of Folium mori on the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the hypothalamus of STZ-induced diabetic rats was investig...

Our previous studies have shown that median and ulnar nerve lesion induced calbindin (CB) immunoreactivity in some injured motoneurons in developing rats. Motoneuron death induced by sciatic nerve transection in neonatal rats has been related to induction of neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). The present study investigated whether expression of CB and nicotinomid adenin dinucleot...