Activity of NO-synthase and radical formation in rat brain compartments: Age dependence

The relationship between age and the activity of NO-synthase and generation of free radicals in different compartments of the brain was studied in male Wistar rats. No-synthase activity was highest in the cerebellum and lower in the cerebral cortex. It increased with age in the cerebellum and remained unchanged in the cortex, being virtually the same in the right and left hemispheres. Radical generation was much higher in the cerebellum than in the cortex and, as a rule, was age-dependent. The ratio of NO-synthase activity to radical generation was age-dependent: a tendency toward a positive linear correlation was observed in young animals, no correlation could be traced in adults, and a negative one was observed in old rats. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 120, N ^o 7, pp. 54–56, July, 1995 Presented by I. P. Ashmarin, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences