Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu khoa học quốc tế về bệnh thú y đề tài: Enhanced expression of constitutive and inducible forms of nitric oxide synthase in autoimmune encephalomyelitis | J. Vet. Sci. 2000 1 1 11-17 OURNAL OF Veterinary Science Enhanced expression of constitutive and inducible forms of nitric oxide synthase in autoimmune encephalomyelitis Seungjoon Kim Changjong Moon Myung Bok Wie Hyungmin Kim1 Naoyuki Tanuma2 Yoh Matsumoto2 Taekyun Shin Department of Veterinary Medicine Brain Korea 21 Cheju National University Cheju 690-756 Korea Department of Oriental Pharmacy College of Pharmacy Wonkwang University Iksan 570-749 Korea Department of Neuropathology Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience Fuchu Tokyo 183 Japan To elucidate the role of nitric oxide synthase NOS in the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis EAE we analyzed the expression of constitutive neuronal NOS nNOS endothelial NOS eNOS and inducible NOS iNOS in the spinal cords of rats with EAE. We further examined the structural interaction between apoptotic cells and spinal cord cells including neurons and astrocytes which are potent cell types of nitric oxide NO production in the brain. Western blot analysis showed that three forms of NOS significantly increased in the spinal cords of rats at the peak stage of EAE while small amounts of these enzymes were identified in the spinal cords of rats without EAE. Immunohistochemical study showed that the expression of either nNOS or eNOS increased in the brain cells including neurons and astrocytes during the peak and recovery stages of EAE while the expression of iNOS was found mainly in the inflammatory macrophages in the perivascular EAE lesions. Double labeling showed that apoptotic cells had intimate contacts with either neurons or astrocytes which are major cell types to express nNOS and eNOS constitutively. Our results suggest that the three NOS may play an important role in the recovery of EAE. Key words nitric oxide synthase microglia astrocytes autoimmune encephalomyelitis Introduction Nitric oxide NO is a readily diffusible apolar gas synthesized from L-arginine via nitric oxide synthase NOS 49 .
