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Cerebellar Injury Induces NADPH Diaphorase in Purkinje and Inferior Olivary Neurons in the Rat
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Cerebellar Injury Induces NADPH Diaphorase in Purkinje and Inferior Olivary Neurons in the Rat

Sheng Chen, Gary Aston-Jones and Songming Chen
Experimental neurology, v 126(2)
Apr 1994
PMID: 7925824

Abstract

NADPH diaphorase (NADPH-D) histochemistry was examined following cerebellar lesions induced by stab or knife cuts. A population of Purkinje cells adjacent to the injury became NADPH-D positive after either type of lesion. These cells appeared by 3 days postlesion and were still seen after 6 weeks. Somata of reactive cells shrank gradually and were reduced about 38% in size by 6 weeks after lesion. In the inferior olive of animals subjected to cerebellar knife cut, NADPH-D-positive cells were found in the beta nucleus, dorsal cap, and subnucleus C. These cells became NADPH-D positive 5 days postlesion, were shrunken at 4 weeks postlesion, and were reduced about 26% in somata size by 6 weeks after lesion. Other cerebellar afferents did not exhibit obvious NADPH-D induction following these lesions. In unlesioned animals, no Purkinje cells or inferior olivary neurons were NADPH-D positive. The present study demonstrates that cerebellar damage induces NADPH-D, a marker for nitric oxide (NO) synthase, in Purkinje cells and inferior olivary neurons. In addition, these reactive neurons exhibit long-term degenerative changes. Taken together with previous studies, these findings indicate that NO, produced by the lesion-induced nitric oxide synthase (NOS), may contribute to the degeneration of brain neurons after injury. The lack of NADPH-D-positive neurons in either Purkinje or the inferior olivary neurons in nonlesioned animals indicates that this may provide a useful model system to study injury-induced NOS in brain.

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