• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 1986

After oral administration of $^{14}$ C-labelled $N^{G}$-mono[$^{14}$ C-methyl］-L-arginine into rats, 66.3% of the administered radioactivity has been recovered in the urine, and 86.2% of the total of the recovered radioactivity is recovered in the first 24-hr urine. Distributions of the radioactivity of the acidic, basic, and neutral portions and unmetabolized $N^{G}$-monomethyl-L-arginine are 33.3%, 40.2%, 12.5% , and 0.3%, respectively. The radioactivity corresponding N-monomethylurea is about 50% of the neutral portion and 6% of the administered radioactivity.ity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.138-143
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• 1996

After oral administration of 14C-labelled $N^G$-mono[methyl-14C]-L-arginine into rats, 38.2 % and 14.7 % of the administered radioactivity bad been recovered in the urine and stool during 10 days. In the urine, 59.4 % of the radioactivity was recovered in the first 24-hours and used for the indentification of the formation of methylamine. The strong cation-exchange resin column chromatography showed 6.3 %, 7.4 %, 4.9 %, and 81.5 % of the distributions of radioactivity of the neutral, monomethylamine, basic, and uneluted portions, respectively. The radioactivity of monomethylamine portion reeluted into the column chromatography was 39.5 %. The radioactivities corresponding monomethylamine in the column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, and thin-layer electrophoresis were 39.5 %, 37.3 %, and 28.8 % of the recovered radioactivity, respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2000

We investigated the action of NOS inhibitors on NOS in rats. Both of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors, $N^G$-monomethyl-L-arginine $(L-NMMA,\;3\;{\mu}M)$ or $N^G$-nitro-L-arginine methylester $(L-NAME,\;30\;{\mu}M),$ augmented phenylephrine $(PE,\;10^{-7}\;M)-induced$ contraction which was inhibited by acetylcholine (ACh) in rat thoracic aorta. This augmentation by L-NAME or L-NMMA was attenuated with the treatment of NO precursor, arginine. ACh, however, decreased the augmentation induced by L-NMMA, but not by L-NAME. Superoxide dismutase (SOD, 50 u/ml) potentiated an inhibitory effect of ACh on the PE $(10^{-7}\;M)-induced$ contraction. It has been known that platelet activating factor itself induces iNOS. Platelet activating factor $(PAF,\;10^{-7}\;M)$ inhibited PE $(10^{-7}\;M)-induced$ contraction. Pretreatment with L-NMMA (30 mM) or L-NAME (30 mM) significantly blocked the inhibitory action of PAF on PE-induced contraction. L-NMMA (100 mM) or L-NAME (100 mM) reduced nerve conduction velocity (NCV) relevant to nNOS in rat sciatic nerve. ACh attenuated the reduction of NCV by L-NMMA-, but not by L-NAME-induced reduction of NCV. These results suggest that L-NMMA and/or L-NAME have different action on three types of NOS in rats.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.411-417
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• 2005

Aqueous extracts were prepared from 21 medicinal herbs including Herba Pogostemi (Agastache rugosa) to examine their modulatory effects on NO production in mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cells. While almost all medicinal herb extracts failed to show marked scavenging activities to NO produced by LPS stimulation, only Herba Pogostemi showed a rather strong induction of NO production in RAW264.7 cells without stimulation with LPS. When we treated the cell with $200{\mu}M\;of\;N^G-monomethyl-L-arginine\;(N^GMMA)$, a NOS2 inhibitor, a significant reduction in NO production could be observed. Moreover, a treatment of $100{\mu}M$ pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) led to about a 79% reduction of NO production. These results demonstrated that the aqueous extract of Herba Pogostemi might provide a second signal for the expression of NOS2 in RAW264.7 cells, and suggested that Herba Pogostemi induces NO production through L-argininedependent pathway.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-246
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• 1997

In the present study, liver regeneration rate (%) was increased up to 70% 3 days after partial hepatectomy (PH). Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in liver tissue as well as serum nitrite/ nitrate content had no timed response, revealing no significant difference between shamoperated and partially hepatectomized rat liver. Contents of free methylarginines in liver tissue were increased biphasically in a time-dependent manner after PH. However, those in serum did not exhibit the same patterns as in liver. Taken together, the results suggest that $N^{G}$-monomethyl-L-arginine (MMA) and $ N^{G}, N^{G}$-dimethylarginine (DMA) play a role in inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) synthesis in regenerating rat liver because the increase of their contents was synchronized with NOS expression.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 1994

Nitric oxide(NO) synthase was identified and characterized by determining the L-citrulline formed in the NO-Arg pathway in pancreatic tissues. NO synthase activities in chicken pancreas were dependent upon the concentration of L-Arg which is the substrate molecule for the NO synthase, the amount of the enzyme protein used, and linearly on the incubation time. NO synthase in mouse pancreas was found to be constitutive, not induced by lipopolysaccharide treatment. In vitro NO synthase activities of chicken pancreas were inhibited 36%, 21%, 12% and 44% by $200\;{\mu}M$ of MMA, DMA, D'MA and NAME respectively. These results suggest the presence of NO and NO synthase in the pancreas.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.184-190
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• 1994

The activities of nitric oxide synthase and the contents of methylarginines were investigated in the pancreatic tissues of various animals by citrulline-forming method and HPLC, respectively. The high level of in vitro NO synthase activity was detected in chicken pancreas whereas MMA, the strong competitive inhibitor for NO synthase, was detected as trace in the same tissue. On the other hand, the low level of NO synthase activity was observed in the porcine pancreas while the contents of MMA were high. However, it was not possible to find any relationship between NO synthase activities and the contents of dimethylarginines at present time. D'MA was equally distributed among the pancreatic tissues of various animals but DMA was not.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.368-373
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• 1996

Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesized by various cells involved in inflammatory reactions and may then act on mast cells. In the present work, we attempted to clarify the role of this molecule on the proliferation of mouse bone marrow derived-mast cells (BMMC). Swiss 3T3 fibroblastsproduced nitrite ($NO_{2}$) and nitrate ($NO_{3}$) upon treatment with interferon ${\gamma}$(IFN-${\gamma}$). This formation was dependent of L-arginine and could be inhibited by the -L-arginine analogue $N^{G}$-monomethyl-L-arginine ($N^{G}$MMA). The effect of IFN-g was drastically invreased by cotreatment with tumor necrosis factor g(IFN-g). BMMC were maintained in vitro for as long as 30 days when cocultured with Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts. coculture with $N^{G}$MMA, significantly increased the number of BMMC. These results indicate that NO involves the inhibition of proliferation of BMMC when cocultured with Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 1999

Nitric oxide (NO), a cellular messenger synthesized from L-arginine by NO synthase (NOS, EC.1.14.13.39), is considered to be a regulator of gastric secretion. In the present study, the role of NO in the regulation of exocrine secretion was investigated in rat gastric chief cells. Treatment of chief cells with carba-chol resulted in an increase in the arginine conversion to citrulline, the amount of $NO_{x}$, the release of pepsine-gen, and the level of cGMP Especially, carbachol-stimulated increase of arginine to citrulline transformation, the amount of $NO_{x}$, cGMP level and the release of pepsinogen were partially reduced by the natural NOS inhibitor, $N^{G}$-monomethyl-L-arginine (MMA) and $N^{G}$, $N^{G}$-dimethyl-L-arginine (DMA). Furthermore, MMA- and DMA-induced decrease of pepsinogen secretion showed dose-dependent patters. Activation of NOS is one of the early events in receptor-mediated cascade of reactions in gastric chief cells and NO, not completely, but partially mediates gastric secretion. Agonist-stimulated pepsinogen secretion in chief cells has been considered to be mediated in adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate pathway and/or guanosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) pathway. Taken together, the above results suggest that partial decrease of exocrine secretion following treatment of NOS inhibitor may result from the inactivation of NOS and subsequent guano- late cyclase, and NO/cGMP pathway may play a pivotal role in exocrine secretion.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 1999

These studies were designed to examine the differential effect of nitric oxide (NO) and cGMP on glutamate neurotransmission. In primary cultures of rat cerebellar granule cells, the glutamate receptor agonist N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) stimulates the elevation of intracellular calcium concentration ($[Ca^{2+}]_i$), the release of glutamate, the synthesis of NO and an increase of cGMP. Although NO has been shown to stimulate guanylyl cyclase, it is unclear yet whether NO alters the NMDA-induced glutamate release and ${[Ca^{2+}]}_i$ elevation. We showed that the NO synthase inhibitor, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA), partially prevented the NMDA-induced release of glutamate and elevation of ${[Ca^{2+}]}_i$ and completely blocked the elevation of cGMP. These effects of NO on glutamate release and [Ca2+]i elevation were unlikely to be secondary to cGMP as the cGMP analogue, dibutyryl cGMP (dBcGMP), did not suppress the effects of NMDA. Rather, dBcGMP slightly augmented the NMDA-induced elevation of ${[Ca^{2+}]}_i$ with no change in the basal level of glutamate or ${[Ca^{2+}]}_i$. The extracellular NO scavenger hydroxocobalamine prevented the NMDA-induced release of glutamate providing indirect evidence that the effect of NO may act on the NMDA receptor. These results suggest that low concentration of NO has a role in maintaining the NMDA receptor activation in a cGMP-independent manner.