Norepinephrine depresses the nitric oxide production in the ascidian hemocytes.

Cintia M de Barros, Andressa de Abreu Mello, Silvana Allodi

Laboratório Integrado de Morfologia, Pólo Barreto, Núcleo em Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Sócio-Ambiental de Macaé, Campus Macaé, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Journal of invertebrate pathology 2012 Oct

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Norepinephrine (NE) is a neuro-hormone released by vertebrates and invertebrates during acute stress, and can influence their immune function. We found that NE depressed the production of nitric oxide (NO) by the hemocytes of ascidians. Our results with a fluorescent indicator for NO in assays using both NE and either α or β-antagonist revealed that NE down-regulated NO production by the ascidian hemocytes. Our data suggest that NE may be acting via specific hemocyte receptors to induce a decrease in immune function. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Citation

Cintia M de Barros, Andressa de Abreu Mello, Silvana Allodi. Norepinephrine depresses the nitric oxide production in the ascidian hemocytes. Journal of invertebrate pathology. 2012 Oct;111(2):182-5