Nitric oxide (NO) is a membrane-permeant signaling molecule which activates soluble guanylyl cyclase and leads to the formation of cyclic GMP (cGMP). The NO/cGMP signaling system is thought to play essential roles during the development of vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Here, we analyzed the cellular expression of this signaling pathway during the development of the Drosophila melanogaste...

The membrane protein NADPH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) oxidase Nox4 constitutively generates reactive oxygen species differing from other NADPH oxidases activity, particularly in Nox2 which needs a stimulus to be active. Although the precise mechanism of production of reactive oxygen species by Nox2 is well characterized, the electronic transfer throughout Nox4 remains unclear...

Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that focal injections of picolinic acid (PIC) protect the cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (nbm) against quinolinic acid (QUIN)-induced neurotoxicity. The present study was designed to examine the effects of chronic infusions of QUIN and PIC on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADPH) diaphorase containing neurons o...

The purpose of the present investigation was to characterize and determine the number of NADPH-diaphorase positive neurons around the central canal in the rabbit spinal cord. These neurons are known to function as interneurons and are present in all spinal cord segments. They differ in shape of their bodies and in length and branching of their processes. The main differentiation was observed in...

NADPH diaphorase/neuronal nitric oxide synthase stained amacrine cells (NAC) are supposed to interact with the retinal vasculature. To study this hypothesis, the retinae of two different mouse strains and their controls were stained using the NADPH diaphorase technique labelling NAC and vessels. In the retina degeneration (rd) mouse, the total number of NAC in the first weeks during early retin...

The NADPH-diaphorase (as a neuronal NO-synthase) reactivity in the medullary structures of the respiratory rhythm (RR) generator and the role of NO in the regulation of respiratory activity in the phrenic nerve of artificially superfused semi-isolated medulla-spinal cord preparations were investigated in newborn rats. NADPH-diaphorase positive neurons were found in all nuclei of both dorsal and...

The coexistence of neuronal NADPH-diaphorase and ACHE activities were investigated in the phaesant spleen by successive double histochemical staining of the same sections. Two types of nerve structures were found in pheasant the spleen: nerve cells and nerve fibres. NADPH-d and ACHE-positive nerve fibres in colocalization enter the spleen in its hilum in the vicinity of splenic artery branches ...

We studied the effects of a severely hypoproteic diet on the quantitative aspects of the myenteric plexus of the descending colon of young rats. Eighteen rats were divided into two groups, one of them being fed with a chow having 26% protein (control) and the other with a chow having 4% protein, balanced for minerals and vitamins, during 12 weeks. The whole-mounts of the descending colon had th...