Brain microvascular basement membrane damage and the expression of uPA and uPA mRNA in brain areas after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusionin renovascular hypertensive stroke-prone rats

AIM:To investigate the effects of lowdosage of nitric oxide synthase(NOS)inhibitor NG-nitro-L-argi ni ne methyl ester(L-NAME)i n two-week treatment on the hyperdynamic circulatory state i n rats withcirrhosis.METHODS:Cirrhosis model was induced in male SDrats by injection of 60%CCl 4 oily sol utionsubcuta-neously.Cirrhotic rats were treated with L-NAME(0.5 mg·kg^-1·d^-1)by gavage for two weeks.Mean arterial pres-sure(MAP), portal pressure(PP), cardiac output(CO), cardiac index(CI), splanchnic vascular resistance(SVR), splanchnic blood flow(SBF)and serumnitrite levels were determi ned in L-NAME-treated, L-NAME-untreatedcirrhotic rats and controls by usi ng57 Co-labled microsphere technique and a fl uorometric assay, respectively.RESULTS:Untreated cirrhotic rats had significantly lower MAP, SVR and higher PP, CO, CI, SBF and nitrite concentra-tion than those of the controls(all, P<0.01).In treated cirrhotic rats, L-NAME significantly attenuated the in-crease of CO, CI, SBF, nitrite concentration and the decrease of MAP and SVR.Intreated cirrhotic rats, L-NAME induced a marked decrease of nitrite concentrationthan untreated cirrhotic rats(1.471±0.907)μmol/L vs(4.204±1.253)μmol/L, P<0.01].CONCLUSION:The endogenous NO may play animportant role inthe changes of hemodynamics patterni n cirrhosis, and hyperdynamic circulatory state in rats with cirrhosis can be ameliorated by oral two-week administration of lower dose of L-NAME.