Haghjooy Javanmard Shaghayegh, Nematbakhsh Mehdi, Monajemi Alireza
Applied Physiology Research Center, Department of Physiology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Iran Biomed J. 2008 Jul;12(3):179-84.
The assessment of altered nitric oxide (NO) availability is of potentially important diagnostic and prognostic significance. The present study is aimed to investigate the effect of L-arginine (as a natural NO donor) supplementation on NO metabolite in a rabbit model of hypercholesterolemia to find a reliable marker for endothelial NO production.
White male rabbits (n = 30) randomly assigned to 2 groups. Rabbits were fed 1% high-cholesterol diet (HC group, n = 15), or HC diet with oral L-arginine (3% in drinking water) (HC + L-arginine group, n = 15) for 4 weeks. The serum levels of lipids, L-arginine, total NO metabolites (NOx), nitrite and nitrate were measured before and after the study.
In this study, L-arginine supplementation led to a significant increased plasma level of L-arginine. The serum level of nitrite was significantly higher in L-arginine treated group while serum level of nitrate and NOx was significantly lower than HC group.
As the result of our study showed, nitrite is a useful marker of endogenous endothelial NO production and although frequently used, neither nitrate nor NOx are reliable markers of acute changes in endothelial NO synthase activity.
评估一氧化氮（NO）可用性的改变具有潜在的重要诊断和预后意义。本研究旨在探讨补充L-精氨酸（作为天然NO供体）对高胆固醇血症兔模型中NO代谢产物的影响，以寻找内皮型NO生成的可靠标志物。
将30只雄性白兔随机分为2组。给兔子喂食1%高胆固醇饮食（HC组，n = 15），或喂食含口服L-精氨酸（饮用水中含3%）的高胆固醇饮食（HC + L-精氨酸组，n = 15），持续4周。在研究前后测量血脂、L-精氨酸、总NO代谢产物（NOx）、亚硝酸盐和硝酸盐的血清水平。
在本研究中，补充L-精氨酸导致血浆L-精氨酸水平显著升高。L-精氨酸治疗组的亚硝酸盐血清水平显著高于HC组，而硝酸盐和NOx的血清水平显著低于HC组。
我们的研究结果表明，亚硝酸盐是内源性内皮型NO生成的有用标志物，尽管硝酸盐和NOx经常被使用，但它们都不是内皮型NO合酶活性急性变化的可靠标志物。
