Nitric oxide synthase inhibitors protect cerebellar Purkinje cells from zinc-induced cell loss in adult rat

PubMed: 21056651Zinc is an important trace element in biological systems; however, excessive extracellular zinc could lead to neuronal cell death following ischemia, seizures, and brain trauma. In this study, we investigated whether the intracortical injection of zinc sulphate (200. ?g/kg, i.c.) changes total number of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum and whether different types nitric oxide synthase inhibitors, N-(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), N(omega)-nitro-l-arginine (l-NNA), aminoguanidine and 7-nitroindazole (7-NI), have protective effects against zinc neurotoxicity in Wistar albino rats. Animals were divided into 6 groups: control, zinc, zinc. +. l-NAME (100. mg/kg, i.p.), zinc. +. l-NNA (100. mg/kg, i.p.), zinc. +. 7-NI (100. mg/kg, i.p.) and zinc. +. aminoguanidine (100. mg/kg, i.p.) groups. Total number of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum was estimated using unbiased stereological technique as 318,947. ± 20,549, 123,483. ± 23,762, 206,537. ± 43,128, 178,135. ± 26,635, 193,148. ± 46,104 and 212,910. ± 26,399 in the control, zinc, zinc. +. l-NAME, zinc. +. l-NNA, zinc. +. 7-NI and zinc. +. aminoguanidine groups, respectively (mean. ± SD). The number of Purkinje cells in zinc group was significantly lower than that of the other groups (P< 0.001). It was found that the nitric oxide synthase inhibitors have neuroprotective effect against zinc neurotoxicity on Purkinje cells. These data show that the inhibition of the nitric oxide synthase could prevent some of the deleterious effects of zinc on Purkinje cells. © 2010 Elsevier B.V

Synthesis, radiolabeling and in vitro evaluation of azathioprine loaded magnetic solid lipid nanoparticles

In this study, it is aimed to design a smart drug delivery system for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer cells. Magnetic-solid lipid nanoparticles were synthesized as a drug delivery system and azathioprine (AZA) was loaded into this system. This newly created system was radiolabeled using technetium-99 m with a radiolabeling yield of 90.3%. Drug loading into the SLMNP was found as 86%. The biological behavior of Tc-99m and radiolabeled magnetic solid lipid nanoparticles loaded with azathioprine (Tc-99m-AZA-SLMNP) was investigated in vitro and in vivo.Ege University (Izmir-Turkey) [22153]; Ege University (Izmir-Turkey) [22153]This study was financialy supported by Ege University Scientific Research Project numbered 22153 (Izmir-Turkey)