Early observations of nitric oxide synthase in the intact brain and regenerating tentacle of the snail, Helix pomatia

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Early observations of nitric oxide synthase in the intact brain and regenerating tentacle of the snail, Helix pomatia Zoltán Serfözö1* and Károly Elekes1 1 Balaton Limnological Research Institute, HAS, Department of Experimental Zoology, Hungary In the present study, the regeneration dynamics of the Helix tentacle which is an established model for neuronal as well as organ regeneration was investigated by NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) reaction which is the histochemical marker for nitric oxide synthase (NOS). The NOS activity and expression, as well as its possible impact on cysteine and tyrosine nitrosylation were also followed in intact brain and tentacle. In a period of 15 weeks, the terminal part of the right tentacle of ten animals was cut by every odd week; meanwhile the left tentacle of these groups remained intact for control. Neurons of the tentacular ganglion, their projections in the tentacular nerve innervating the lateral neuropil and the globuli cells of the procerebrum, showed NADPH-d reactivity. After 1 week of tentacle extirpation a faint NADPH-d reactivity was still seen in the distal part of injured axons of the tentacular nerve. At 10 weeks of regeneration NADPH-d reactivity reappeared in the newly forming tentacular ganglion, and a similar distribution to the control was obtained by 13 weeks. NOS activity of the brain was found 1422±42 dpm 14C citrulline/mg/ml protein/min/5 animals (n=4), whereas it was 2212±50 dpm in the tentacular ganglia. A fivefold dilution of the extracts resulted in an approx. five times higher activity in the brain (6691±193 dpm; n=4). L-NAME substrate analogue inhibitor proved not to be effective. From total brain extract a 140-150 kDa protein was detected by an anti-universal NOS antibody that was also labeled by an anti-S-nitrosocysteine antibody. In addition, cysteine nitrosylation was also found in other 5 proteins of 180, 170, 80, 50, and 40 kDa mw, respectively, whereas tyrosine nitration was not present in the intact Helix brain. These preliminary results show the presence of the NO signaling pathway in the snail CNS and tentacle and also suggest a possible involvement of NO in the tentacle regeneration. Supported by the OTKA PD75276 and K78224 grants. Conference: IBRO International Workshop 2010, Pécs, Hungary, 21 Jan - 23 Jan, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Sensory and motor systems Citation: Serfözö Z and Elekes K (2010). Early observations of nitric oxide synthase in the intact brain and regenerating tentacle of the snail, Helix pomatia. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: IBRO International Workshop 2010. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.10.00267 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 06 May 2010; Published Online: 06 May 2010. * Correspondence: Zoltán Serfözö, Balaton Limnological Research Institute, HAS, Department of Experimental Zoology, Tihany, Hungary, serfozo@tres.blki.hu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Zoltán Serfözö Károly Elekes Google Zoltán Serfözö Károly Elekes Google Scholar Zoltán Serfözö Károly Elekes PubMed Zoltán Serfözö Károly Elekes Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.