Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) is a key arginine metabolising enzyme in the brain, and nNOS-derived nitric oxide plays an important role in regulating glutamatergic neurotransmission. Nitric oxide and its related molecules are involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and human genetic studies have identified schizophrenia risk genes encoding nNOS. The present study systematically investigated how maternal immune activation (MIA; a risk factor for schizophrenia) induced by polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid affected nNOS-immunoreactivity in the brain of the resulting male and female offspring at the age of postnatal day (PND) 2. Immunohistochemistry revealed a markedly increased intensity of nNOS-positive cells in the CA3 and dentate gyrus sub-regions of the hippocampus, the somatosensory cortex and the striatum, but not the frontal cortex and hippocampal CA1 region, in the MIA offspring when compared to control group animals. There were no sex differences in the effect. Given the role of nNOS in glutamatergic neurotransmission and its functional relationship with glutamate NMDA receptors, increased nNOS immunoreactivity may indicate the up-regulation of NMDA receptor function in MIA rat offspring at an early postnatal age. Future research is required to determine whether these changes contribute to the neuronal and behavioral dysfunction observed in both juvenile and adult MIA rat offspring. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
3%
Other
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Unknown
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Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 September 2017.
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#21,981,335
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Outputs from Synapse
#765
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Outputs of similar age
#285,619
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Outputs of similar age from Synapse
#3
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