M. Sano et al., NO IS NOT INVOLVED IN THE SIMVASTATIN-INDUCED CELL-DIVISION AND DIFFERENTIATION IN PC12 CELLS, Neuroscience letters, 243(1-3), 1998, pp. 73-76
Simvastatin, a potent 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA)
reductase inhibitor has been reported to inhibit cell division and ind
uce neurite-like outgrowth in PC12 cells [Sato-Suzuki, I. and Murota,
S., Neurosci. Lett., 220 (1996) 21-24]. In the present paper, we exami
ned whether the induced nitric oxide (NO) in the simvastatin-treated P
C12 cells is involved in the growth arrest and differentiation as repo
rted in nerve growth factor (NGF) treated PC12 cells. Treatment of PC1
2 cells with simvastatin caused peripherin formation and enhanced NO p
roduction just like NGF-treated PC12 cells. Different from NGF, howeve
r, NO synthase inhibitors could not affect the growth arrest and diffe
rentiation in simvastatin-treated PC12 cells. In conclusion, NO had no
thing to do with cell division and differentiation in simvastatin-trea
ted PC12 cells. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.