Estimulació de la síntesi d'òxid nítric i de GMP cíclic per amines i aminoàcids neurotransmissors en neurones i cèl.lules glials

Nitric oxide (NO) is a mediator of several important cellular responses such as blood vessel relaxation, macrophage cytotoxicity and cyclic GMP (cGMP) generation by stimulation of soluble guanylatcyclase. Are the Neurotoxicity is associated to biochemical (hypoxia) and mechanical (traumatism) injury and to degenerative disorders (epilepsy, Alzheimer, Hungtington, etc.). Although most of the brain NO seems to have a neuronal origin, we have recently obtained evidence that astrocytes can also produce it by stimulation with noradrenaline apart from glutamate. On the other hand, astrocytes have been suggested to participate in the modulation of synaptic plasticity. The aim of this project, is to use primary cultures enriched in specific brain cells to investigate the relative contribution of neurons and astroglia from cerebellum and hippocampus in the generation of NO and cGMP-via NO in resp