Expression of the protein inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase in the adult rat retina before and after optic nerve lesion.

The molecular messenger nitric oxide (NO) not only serves a number of physiologic functions, but is also involved in the pathophysiology of neurodegeneration. It is produced by the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoenzymes. One of the many players regulating NOS activity is the Protein Inhibitor of NOS, PIN. To gain further insight into the mechanisms of NOS regulation and NO-mediated cell death after nerve trauma, we examined PIN expression in a standard model of lesion-induced neurodegeneration, the rat optic nerve transsection model. In both the axotomized retinae and the control retinae PIN expression was predominantly observed in the retinal ganglion cell layer. Optic nerve lesion did neither change the amount of PIN mRNA, as determined by in situ hybridization and real-time RT-PCR, nor did it change the amount of PIN as determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. These results suggest that in our model, NOS activity is not regulated by altered PIN levels, which contributes to our understanding of apoptotic mechanisms in injured neurons.