L-Arginine crosses the cell membrane primarily through the system y(+) transporter. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of L-arginine transport in nitric oxide (NO) production in aortas of rats with heart failure induced by myocardial infarction. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels in aortas of rats with heart failure were six times higher than in sham rats (P < 0.01). L-Arginine u...

We have investigated the effects of L-arginine, D-arginine and L-lysine on airway smooth muscle responsiveness to spasmogens in vitro. Both L-arginine and D-arginine (100 mM) significantly reduced the contractile potency and maximal contractile response to histamine but not to methacholine or potassium chloride in guinea-pig epithelium-denuded isolated trachea. Similarly, the contractile respon...

LSTRA is a mouse lymphoma cell line overexpressing the src-related oncogene product and T cell marker p56lck. We have discovered that LSTRA cells, like HL60 and U937 promyelocytic leukemia cells, can be induced to differentiate toward macrophages by the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) or granulocytes by the cyclic nucleotide analogue dibutyryl cAMP (dbcAMP). One proper...

We investigated the effect of the excitatory amino acid (EAA) receptor agonists L-glutamate, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), (RS)-a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) and kainic acid on KCl-induced contractions of rabbit tracheal smooth muscle, as well as the role of epithelium and endogenously produced nitric oxide and prostaglandins on these responses. L-Glutamate decreas...

We examined the role of nitric oxide (NO) in adrenal catecholamine secretion in response to splanchnic nerve stimulation (SNS) and exogenous acetylcholine (ACh) in anesthetized dogs. The NO synthase inhibitor N ω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), NO donor 3-(2-hydroxy-1-methyl-2-nitrosohydrazino)- N-methyl-1-propanamine (NOC 7), and ACh were administered intra-arterially into the adrenal ...

      The fruit of Melia azedarach L. (Meliaceae) was extracted with hexane, and its fatty acids methyl ester was analyzed using GC/MS. Thirteen components representing 85.1% of the total extract were identified. The major components identified were methyl palmitate (18.8%), methyl linolenate (16.1%) and methyl linoleate (9.8%). The fruits’ extract had a LC50 of 5.5 ppm agai...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of chronic crowding stress in condition of disturbed nitric oxide (NO) production by a low dose of NO synthase inhibitor NGNitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). Male, 12 weeks old, Wistar rats were exposed to crowding stress (200 cm2 per rat, 5 rats per cage), L-NAME treatment (1.5 mg/kg/day in drinking water) or their combination for 8 week...