Background Varicocele is an abnormal dilation and tortuosity of veins of pampiniform plexus that drains the testis and causes an important change in semen.This abnormality is often one of the most common risk factors for male infertility. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) 4a4b (rs61722009) gene polymorphism, as a common genetic fact...

It has been shown previously that endogenous nitric oxide can buffer arterial blood pressure variability in dogs and rats. In these former studies, all isoforms of the nitric oxide synthase were blocked pharmacologically and an increased blood pressure variability was observed. Thus the question as to which isoform of the nitric oxide synthase is responsible for the blood pressure buffering eff...

Introduction Approximately 6 years ago, nitric oxide was identified as the endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF), the endogenous vasodilator mimicked by nitroglycerin and nitroprusside [ 1-41. An astonishing variety of tissues synthesize nitric oxide, which has important roles in the control of systemic blood pressure, respiration, digestion, penile erection, platelet aggregation, cerebral...

Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in several biological processes, but its role in human melanogenesis is still not well understood. Exposure to UVA and UVB induces nitric oxide production in keratinocytes and melanocytes through the activation of constitutive nitric oxide synthase, increasing tyrosinase activity and melanin synthesis, whereas inducible nitric oxide synthase over expression might b...

nitric oxide (no) is thought to be involved in spatial learning and memory in several brain areas such as hippocampus. this study examined the effects of post-training intrahippocampal microinjections of 1400w as a selective inos inhibitor on spatial memory, in anesthetized and non-anesthetized situations in rats. in the present work, 4-day training trials of animals were conducted. spatial mem...

OBJECTIVES Direct gene transfer of exogenous nitric oxide synthase, with the subsequent increase in nitric oxide production, could represent a potential therapeutic strategy in the treatment of vascular proliferative disorders. The goal of the present study was to determine if porcine coronary arteries could be transduced with an adenoviral vector encoding endothelial nitric oxide synthase (Ad....

The identification of human inflammatory cells that express inducible nitric oxide synthase and the clarification of the role of inducible nitric oxide synthase in human infectious or inflammatory processes have been elusive. In neutrophil-enriched fractions from urine, we demonstrate a 43-fold increase in nitric oxide synthase activity in patients with urinary tract infections compared with th...

In the present study we have extended our previous findings about the effects of 10 minutes of passive mandibular extension in anesthetized Wistar rats. By prolonging the observation time to 3 hours, we showed that 10 minutes mandibular extension caused a significant reduction of the mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate respect to baseline values, which persisted up to 160 minutes after ...

BACKGROUND Inducible or neuronal nitric oxide synthase gene deletion increases or decreases anxiety-like behavior in mice, respectively. Since nitric oxide and endocannabinoids interact to modulate defensive behavior, the former effect could involve a compensatory increase in basal brain nitric oxide synthase activity and/or changes in the endocannabinoid system. Thus, we investigated the expre...

To elucidate whether cytokines induce nitric oxide synthase in vascular smooth muscle cells, we studied the effects of human recombinant interleukin-1 beta on the synthesis and release of nitric oxide in cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells by measurement of NO2-/NO3- levels. Furthermore, we performed Northern blot analysis using subcloned polymerase chain reaction products as probes for c...