Nitric Oxide Synthase in the Central Nervous System and Peripheral Organs of Stramonita haemastoma: Protein Distribution and Gene Expression in Response to Thermal Stress.

Mattia Toni,Maria Di Patti,Federica De Angelis,Carla Cioni

doi:10.3390/md13116636

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Journal: Marine Drugs	Publication Date: Oct 30, 2015
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Sapienza University of Rome

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Nitric oxide (NO) is generated via the oxidation of l-arginine by the enzyme NO synthase (NOS) both in vertebrates and invertebrates. Three NOS isoforms, nNOS, iNOS and eNOS, are known in vertebrates, whereas a single NOS isoform is usually expressed in invertebrates, sharing structural and functional characteristics with nNOS or iNOS depending on the species. The present paper is focused on the constitutive Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent nNOS recently sequenced by our group in the neogastropod Stramonita haemastoma (ShNOS). In this paper we provide new data on cellular distribution of ShNOS in the CNS (pedal ganglion) and peripheral organs (osphradium, tentacle, eye and foot) obtained by WB, IF, CM and NADPHd. Results demonstrated that NOS-like proteins are widely expressed in sensory receptor elements, neurons and epithelial cells. The detailed study of NOS distribution in peripheral and central neurons suggested that NOS is both intracellular and presynaptically located. Present findings confirm that NO may have a key role in the central neuronal circuits of gastropods and in sensory perception. The physiological relevance of NOS enzymes in the same organs was suggested by thermal stress experiments demonstrating that the constitutive expression of ShNOS is modulated in a time- and organ-dependent manner in response to environmental stressors.

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Nitric oxide (NO) is a free natural gas that is used as signaling molecule by bacterial, animal and plant cells [1]
We found a substantial overlapping of the two staining types, only a minor part of the NO synthases (NOS)-IR structures were labeled by NADPHd (Figure 6N,O)
In the tentacle, where ShNOS is highly expressed, variations in light intensity or in the visual field during tank transfer might require an elevated demand of NO that is sustained by a strong increase in NOS gene expression

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Introduction

Nitric oxide (NO) is a free natural gas that is used as signaling molecule by bacterial, animal and plant cells [1]. The biological effect of NO was discovered in mammals when this molecule was first identified as the endothelium-derived relaxing factor, a potent endogenous vasodilator [2,3]. NO is enzymatically generated from the oxidation of L-arginine by NO synthases (NOS) that require NADPH as a cofactor. Three main NOS have been biochemically characterized and cloned in mammals: neuronal (nNOS or NOS1), endothelial (eNOS or NOS3) and inducible (iNOS). Neuronal NOS and eNOS are Ca2+/CaM-dependent, constitutively expressed enzymes, whereas iNOS is a Ca2+-independent isoform expressed in activated macrophages and immune cells

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