Demyelination caused by inflammation of the CNS has been considered to be a major hallmark of multiple sclerosis (MS). Using experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model of MS, we demonstrate that an immune-mediated attack of the optic nerve is accompanied by an early degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). The decrease of neuronal cell density was correlated with functional disabilities as assessed by visual evoked cortical potentials and electroretinogram. Visual acuity was significantly reduced. DNA degradation and activation of caspase-3 in RGCs indicate that cell death of RGCs is apoptotic. These findings show for the first time that an inflammatory attack against myelin components can lead to acute neuronal cell loss by apoptosis.
We present chemical, physical, immunohistochemical, and therapeutic evidence that functional deficits caused by neuroinflammation can arise from tissue hypoxia, consistent with an energy crisis in inflamed central nervous system tissue. The neurological deficit was closely correlated with spinal white and gray matter hypoxia. This realization may indicate new avenues for therapy of neuroinflammatory diseases such as MS.
This study was designed to elucidate whether nitric oxide (NO) controls norepinephrine (NE) release from sympathetic nerves of the rat heart. Hearts were perfused in the Langendorff mode with Tyrode's solution. The right sympathetic nerve was stimulated with trains of 1 or 3 Hz and NE release was measured. The NO synthase (NOS) inhibitor NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) enhanced the evoked NE release in a concentration-dependent manner. This facilitation was independent of the increase in perfusion pressure and was stereospecifically reversed by L-arginine but not D-arginine. Another NOS inhibitor, NG-methyl-L-arginine, produced a similar increase in NE release. The NO-donor compound S-nitroso-N-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine, added in the presence of L-NNA, restored the suppression of NE release in a concentration-dependent fashion. A similar suppression was achieved with 3-morpholinosydnonimine. These results demonstrated that NE release is under the inhibitory control of endogenous NO. Western blots demonstrated the presence of neuronal NOS I and endothelial NOS III in the hearts. Perfusion of the hearts with a low concentration of the detergent CHAPS produced functional damage of the endothelium, as evidenced by an increase in perfusion pressure and a conversion of the acetylcholine-induced coronary vasodilation to a constriction. However, CHAPS treatment did not produce a facilitation of NE release (as did the NOS inhibitors), and L-NNA still increased NE release in CHAPS-treated hearts. Double-labeling immunofluorescence histochemistry showed NOS I immunoreactivity in stellate ganglion cells and in neurons of the heart, some of which also stained positive for tyrosine hydroxylase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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