The molecular mechanism for priapism is not well characterized. Although the nitric oxide (NO) pathway is known to mediate penile erection under normal conditions, we hypothesized that the mechanism of priapism rests in aberrant downstream signaling of this pathway based on our previous findings that mice lacking the gene for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS-/-) and mice lacking both neu...

The postnatal pattern of renal endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is unknown. The purpose of this study was to characterize eNOS expression during maturation and compare this to neuronal NOS (nNOS). The experiments measured whole kidney eNOS mRNA expression by RT-PCR and protein content by Western blot, as well as cortical and medullary protein content in piglets at selected postnatal age...

Increases in the signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) during inflammation may be linked not only to inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS) but also to endothelial (e)NOS. Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces an inflammatory response in the bladder and rapidly increases phosphorylation of Akt/protein kinase B (Akt), a key enzyme regulating proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammation....

BACKGROUND Parathyroid hormone (PTH), the major systemic calcium regulating hormone has been implicated in the development of hypertension and the occurrence of uraemic vascular changes. As nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is involved in the production of nitric oxide, and acute PTH effect is characterized by vasodilation, the effect of PTH on the endothelial NOS (eNOS) system was measured in cultur...

Chronic (>24 h) exposure of arsenite, an environmental toxicant, has shown the decreased nitric oxide (NO) production in endothelial cells (EC) by decreasing endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression and/or its phosphorylation at serine 1179 (eNOS-Ser(1179) in bovine sequence), which is associated with increased risk of vascular diseases. Here, we investigated the acute (<24 h) effect of arseni...

Miller MW, Knaub LA, Olivera-Fragoso LF, Keller AC, Balasubramaniam V, Watson PA, Reusch JE. Nitric oxide regulates vascular adaptive mitochondrial dynamics. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 304: H1624–H1633, 2013. First published April 12, 2013; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00987.2012.—Cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, and physical inactivity, a...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES In our laboratory, we recently obtained evidence that cultured bovine endothelial cells contain cytosolic proteins that form complexes with the 3'-unstranslated region of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) mRNA and are associated with its destabilization. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of such proteins and the level of eNOS expression in hy...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Production of NO by endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) is thought to play a neuroprotective role after cerebral ischemia. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) contributes to activation of eNOS by Ca2+/calmodulin and also stimulates the protein kinase Akt, which directly phosphorylates eNOS on Ser1177 and increases enzyme activity. Although the expression of VEGF has ...

OBJECTIVE Mice genetically deficient in endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS(-/-)) are hypertensive with lower circulating nitrite levels, indicating the importance of constitutively produced nitric oxide (NO•) to blood pressure regulation and vascular homeostasis. Although the current paradigm holds that this bioactivity derives specifically from the expression of eNOS in endothelium, circu...

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is activated by phosphorylation of serine 1177 by the protein kinase Akt/PKB. Since hyperglycemia-induced mitochondrial superoxide overproduction increases O-linked N-acetylglucosamine modification and decreases O-linked phosphorylation of the transcription factor Sp1, the effect of hyperglycemia and the hexosamine pathway on eNOS was evaluated. In bovin...