Atropine has been used to block cholinergic neurotransmission in basic research. Large doses of atropine cause vasodilation of the blood vessels in the skin. This effect is apparently unconnected with the antimuscarinic activity of atropine and seems to be due to a direct action on the blood vessels. It has been suggested that atropine blocks muscarinic receptors at low doses and it induces th...

Nitric oxide stimulates intestinal ion transport via the activation of enteric nerves, but it is not known whether it regulates intestinal transport function by acting on the epithelium directly. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of nitric oxide on epithelial electrogenic ion secretion, measured as the short-circuit current (Isc), using the human colonic carcinoma cell line C...

The lymphocytic growth hormone (GH) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were studied among three different age groups of cattle viz. cyclic adult cows (3-8 years of age), young female calves (2 weeks old) and growing female calves (6 months old). The effects of leptin, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) on the secretion of lymphocytic GH and NO were also studied. L...

The role of nitric oxide (NO) in microvascular permeability remains unclear because both increases and decreases in permeability by NO synthase (NOS) inhibitors have been reported. We sought to determine whether blood-borne constituents modify venular permeability responses to the NOS inhibitor N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). We assessed hydraulic conductivity (L(p)) of pipette-per...

Experiments were carried out to determine the role of nitric oxide in mediating autonomic and behavioral thermoregulatory control in rat pups on postnatal days 1-2, 5-6, and 10-11. For an experiment, each pup received a subcutaneous injection of vehicle, NG-nitro-D-arginine methyl ester (D-NAME; 100 mg/kg), or NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 100 mg/kg) before being placed in a metabol...

Lactoferrin (LF) is a multifunctional protein that is found in milk, neutrophils, and other biological fluids. Under inflammatory conditions, LF production is increased in the periphery by neutrophils. However, the cardiovascular function of LF is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effect of bovine LF (BLF) on the mean blood pressure (MBP) and heart rate (HR) in urethane-a...

BACKGROUND Cholera toxin causes small intestinal hypersecretion by inducing a coordinated response from enterocytes, enterochromaffin cells, enteric neurones, and the vascular supply. Nitric oxide has been implicated in the function of these separate components. AIMS To explore the role of nitric oxide in the totality of cholera toxin induced secretion in vivo. METHODS One group of adult ma...

BACKGROUND l-Arginine is a semi-essential aminoacid with important role in regulation of physiological processes in humans. It serves as precursor for the synthesis of proteins and is also substrate for different enzymes such as nitric oxide synthase. This amino-acid act as free radical scavenger, inhibits the activity of pro-oxidant enzymes and thus acts as an antioxidant and has also bacteric...