Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO), a free radical, can be produced by vascular endothelial cells and certain neurons of the central and peripheral nervous systems upon activation of its biosynthetic enzyme, nitric oxide synthase (NOS). NO may function as a non-conventional neurotransmitter in the nervous system, and either NO or an NO-producing compound is believed to be the endothelium-derived relaxing factor of the vascular system. An antiserum recognizing the molecular form of NOS present in brain has been used to localize the enzyme in brain and peripheral tissues (Bredt et al., 1990). NOS containing neurons also display intense NADPH-diaphorase activity (Dawson et al., 1991; Hope et al., 1991), and this histochemical reaction, though less specific than immunohistochemistry, provides a label for NOS activity in both central and peripheral neurons.
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Grimes, P.A., Lahiri, S., Stone, R., Mokashi, A., Chug, D. (1994). Nitric Oxide Synthase Occurs in Neurons and Nerve Fibers of the Carotid Body. In: O’Regan, R.G., Nolan, P., McQueen, D.S., Paterson, D.J. (eds) Arterial Chemoreceptors. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 360. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2572-1_33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2572-1_33
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