Effects of hypoxia and aging on heart mtNOS

VALDEZ, LAURA; ZAOBORNYJ, TAMARA; ALVAREZ, SILVIA; LA PADULA, PABLO; COSTA, LIDIA

Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the SFRR

Medimond SRL

Lugar: Bologna; Año: 2004; p. 125 - 128

It has been repeatedly suggested that NO plays an important role in heart adaptation to chronic hypoxia. Rat heart mtNOS contributed with about 41% of the total organ NO production and mtNOS activity was selectively up-regulated, by 20-70% (depending on rat age) after exposure to 2-23 months of hypobaric hypoxia. Rat heart mtNOS, NADH-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome oxidase activities decreased with age 20%, 40% and 8% respectively. Heart mtNOS expression is regulated by the O2 availability at the organ.