These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Effect of substituted arginine compounds on superoxide production in the rabbit aorta.
    Author: Heim KF, Thomas G, Ramwell PW.
    Journal: J Pharmacol Exp Ther; 1991 Jun; 257(3):1130-5. PubMed ID: 1646323.
    Abstract:
    Superoxide anion (O2-) blocks the vascular effect of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF). Previous reports implicate L-arginine or N alpha-substituted arginine compounds as precursors of EDRF. Employing a microassay for the measurement of O2- production by rabbit aortic rings, which is based on the established method of reduction of cytochrome c by O2-, we studied the interaction between O2- and EDRF using L-arginine, an N-substituted arginine compound, namely, N alpha-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester (BAEE), sodium nitroprusside and NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA), a putative specific inhibitor of EDRF synthesis. Measurements of O2- production were made under basal conditions and upon stimulation with alloxan, the diabetogenic, O(2-)-generating compound. Both BAEE, an EDRF-generating agent (0.3 and 3.0 mM) and sodium nitroprusside, an NO-generating compound (1.7 and 3.4 microM), significantly reduced alloxan-stimulated O2- production, but L-arginine (0.6-3.0 mM) paradoxically increased O2- generation. NMMA (1.0 mM) blocked the inhibitory effect of BAEE on O2- production in an endothelium-dependent manner. Because NMMA is an inhibitor of EDRF, these results suggest that BAEE, but not L-arginine, reduces O2- produced by the endothelium of the rabbit aorta through a mechanism involving EDRF generation.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]