Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is activated by ionizing radiation (IR), but the molecular mechanism for this effect is unknown. We have found that intracellular generation of nitric oxide (NO) by NO synthase (NOS) is required for the rapid activation of EGFR phosphorylation by IR. Treatment of A549 lung cancer cells with IR increased NOS activity within minutes, accompanied by an incre...

Agmatine, decarboxylated arginine, is a metabolic product of mammalian cells. Considering the close structural similarity between L-arginine and agmatine, we investigated the interaction of agmatine and nitric oxide synthases (NOSs), which use L-arginine to generate nitric oxide (NO) and citrulline. Brain, macrophages and endothelial cells were respectively used as sources for NOS isoforms I, I...

AIM To study correlation between inhibitions of naloxone-precipitated withdrawal jumps and nitric-oxide synthase (NOS) activity by agmatine. METHODS NOS activities in mouse brain were measured by determination of concentration of [3H]citrulline, the product of [3H]arginine. RESULTS Agmatine inhibited NOS activity in naive and morphine-dependent mouse cerebellum, forebrain, and thalamus in s...

Mechanisms that regulate the nitric oxide synthase enzymes (NOS) are of interest in biology and medicine. Although NOS catalysis relies on domain motions, and is activated by calmodulin binding, the relationships are unclear. We used single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy to elucidate the conformational states distribution and associated conformational fluctu...

Nitric oxide synthase like enzyme (NOS-like enzyme), which produces nitric oxide, participates in many biological processes. However it remains unidentified and highly controversial that plants do possess a NOS-like enzyme. In this paper, a novel arginine analogue NP1 was designed and developed for the direct identification and real time tracking of NOS-like enzymes in plant by fluorescence sen...

pmmSe. The conversion of L-arginine into L-citrulline by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) leads to nitric oxide formation. Two major NOS isoforms exist, a &*-dependent NOS (cNOS) and a &“-independent NOS (iNOS). The cNOS is constitutive of many cells while the iNOS is not expressed in normal conditions but only induced after the stimulation by different factors (endotoxins, cytokines, etc...). This ...

pmmSe. The conversion of L-arginine into L-citrulline by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) leads to nitric oxide formation. Two major NOS isoforms exist, a &*-dependent NOS (cNOS) and a &“-independent NOS (iNOS). The cNOS is constitutive of many cells while the iNOS is not expressed in normal conditions but only induced after the stimulation by different factors (endotoxins, cytokines, etc...). This ...

We reviewed the stability of the diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). A Medline search found eight studies reiterating a diagnostic assessment for PDD-NOS. The pooled group included 322 autistic disorder (AD) and 122 PDD-NOS cases. We used percentage of individuals with same diagnose at Times 1 and 2 as response criterion. The pooled Relative Risk was...

Primordial germ cells (PGC) are the precursors of germline stem cells. In Drosophila, PGC specification is thought to require transcriptional quiescence and three genes, polar granule component (pgc), nanos (nos), and germ cell less (gcl) function to downregulate Pol II transcription. While it is not understood how nos or gcl represses transcription, pgc does so by inhibiting the transcription ...

Our previous studies have shown that nitric oxide synthase (NOS) can be induced in motoneurons after spinal root avulsion lesion and the lesion-induced NOS is coincident with the death of the injured neurons. The present study examined whether the death of injured motoneurons can be prevented by inhibition of NOS. Nitroarginine, a specific inhibitor of NOS, was injected into adult rats which un...