NEURONAL AND INDUCIBLE NITRIC-OXIDE SYNTHASE AND NITROTYROSINE IMMUNOREACTIVITIES IN THE CEREBRAL-CORTEX OF THE AGING RAT

Neuronal and inducible nitric oxide synthase (nNOS and iNOS) and nitro tyrosine immunoreactivities were localized and semiquantitatively asse ssed in the cerebral cortex of aged rats by means of light microscopic immunocytochemistry and Western blotting, using a new series of speci fic polyclonal antibodies. In the aged rats the strongly nNOS-immunore active multipolar neurons found in layers II-VI of the cortex of young rats were seen in similar numbers, but showed varicose, vacuolated, a nd fragmented processes, with an irregular outline and loss of spines. A large number of more weakly nNOS-positive neurons, characterized by a ring of immunoreactive cytoplasm, and not seen in young rats, were observed in layers II-VI of aged rat cortex. While no iNOS-immunoposit ive neurons were found in the cortex of young rats, a large number of such neurons appeared throughout the aged rat cortex. Nitrotyrosine-po sitive cells outnumbered total NOS-positive neurons in the cortex of y oung rats, but this relation was inverted in the aged rats, although t hese showed a slight increase in the number and staining intensity of nitrotyrosine-positive cells. Western blots of brain extracts showed a several-fold increase in both nNOS- and iNOS-immunoreactive bands in the aged rat, but a less marked increase in nitrotyrosine-containing p roteins. The results suggest that while nNOS and iNOS expression is su bstantially increased in the aged rat cortex, this is not necessarily accompanied by a proportionate increase in nitric oxide synthesis. The mechanisms underlying the increased expression of nNOS and iNOS, and the functional implications of this increase, require elucidation. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.