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This study is to investigate the influence and mechanism of action of asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA) and the induced oxidative stress level on Alzheimer's disease (AD) incidence. ADMA concentration, nitric oxide, Abeta(40)/Abeta(42) ratio, inducible NO synthase (iNOS) activity and the concentrations of the induced free radicals including malondialdehyde (MDA), 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) and peroxynitrite (ONOO-) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 34 neurologically normal controls and 37 AD patients were quantitatively determined and statistically compared. The results showed that the ADMA concentration significantly decreased in AD patients, and it showed negative correlation with the NO, iNOS activity, and showed positive correlation with MMSE score. ADMA concentration was negatively correlated with Abeta(40)/Abeta(42) ratio (P<0.01) with the observation that Abeta(40)/Abeta(42) ratio increased while ADMA level decreased in CSF in AD patients. The concentration levels of MDA, 3-NT and ROS significantly increased compared with the control with all the P values less than 0.05. These findings suggested that the ADMA disorder and the oxidative damage effect of the induced free radicals in CSF of AD patients are an important mechanism of AD incidence, and their joint regulation may provide new idea for the prevention and clinical treatment of AD.

Objective: To observe the variation of endothelin (ET) and nitric oxide (NO) in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in rabbits, and evaluate the effects of tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) on the prevention and cure of cerebral vasospasm (CVS) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)., Methods: 24 New Zealand rabbits were randomly assigned into three groups: contrast group, experiment group and blank group. Every group contained 8 rabbits. SAH was established according to inject blood into the cisterna magna. The experiment group was administrated with TMP (20 mg/kg x d) transperitoneally. ET and NO of plasma and CSF were detected by radical immunoassay at 72 h and 168 h after SAH. Neurofunction were detected in every group at all the time scales., Results: (1) After SAH, the level of ET in CSF increased significantly in contrast group compared with that in experiment and blank groups (P<0.05). The value of ET at 168 h was higher than that at 72 h. The level of ET in plasma increased significantly in contrast group compared with blank and experiment groups (P<0.05), and no significant contrast could be found between blank and experiment group. (2) After SAH, the value of NO in CSF was lower in contrast group than in other groups (P<0.05), and the level of NO in CSF continued to decrease in all groups on some extent. As time went by, no significant contrast could be found in all groups. The value of NO in plasma was lower in contrast group than in other groups (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between experiment and blank groups. (3) The neuro-function score continued to be increased in contrast group, but decreased in experiment one. The neuro-function score was lower in experiment group than in contrast one at every time point (P<0.05)., Conclusion: After administration of TMP, the variation of ET has the continued decrease in plasma and CSF; the variation of NO shows the continued increase in plasma and CSF; neurological function gets possibly protected. TMP may prevent from and cure CVS after SAH.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between the concentration of nitric oxide (NO) and cytological change in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the onset of neurocysticercosis in patients., Methods: NO Level in CSF was detected in 30 cases of neurocysticercosis, 20 cases of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) and 20 healthy people as control by using Griess method. The cytological components in CSF were also examined., Results and Conclusion: Griess method was proved to be a rapid and accurate technique for the detection of NO content in CSF. The NO concentration in cases of neurocysticercosis and TBM was significantly higher than that of control(P < 0.01). The neurocysticercosis cases showed the highest CST NO level which was considerably higher than that of TBM cases(P < 0.05). Among the cytological changes, the neurocysticercosis cases also showed a higher count of eosinophils than that of TBM cases and control (P < 0.01). The NO level and eosinophils count in CSF increased significantly in patients with neurocysticercosis.

To study the role of the nitric oxide(NO) in patients with cerebral infarction, NO in cerebrospinal fluid was determined in cerebral infarction group(15 cases) and control group(10 cases). Infarct volume was determined by CT between the second and the 7th day after the onset of symptoms. The severity of neurological deficits was assessed with the stroke scale of Ministry of Public Healthy(China). The results showed that NO was higher in cerebral infarction group (3.12 +/- 1.60) than that in control group(1.19 +/- 1.01) (P < 0.01). The concentration of NO was positively correlated with infarction volume(r = 0.57, P < 0.05) and severity of neurological of deficits(r = 0.54, P < 0.05), respectively. The results support the conclusion that NO produced in large amounts in the postischemic tissue contributes to the progression of the brain damage, which was demonstrated in animal models of focal cerebral ischemia.

Objective: To probe into the significance of Nitric Oxide (NO) in ischemic cerebral damage and effect of ligustrazine on it., Methods: The NO contents in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma of 20 controls and 62 patients with arteriosclerotic thrombotic cerebral infarction (ligustrazine group and common treatment group) were determined with Griess method before and after treatment., Results: The NO content in CSF before treatment was higher in severe type, it was higher than that in moderate type, and than that in mild type, again higher than that in control group (all P < 0.05) and was positively correlated with the size of infarction (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the plasma NO content of patients and that of control group (P > 0.05), but there was a trend that plasma NO content decreased as the patient's condition worsened. After treatment, the curative effect and plasma NO content of ligustrazine group were both markedly higher than those of common treatment group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between CSF NO contents of the two groups, respectively, and that of control group (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: Excessive NO produced in brain tissue and insufficient plasma NO participate the course of ischemic brain damage. Ligustrazine could increase the contents of plasma NO selectively.

The contents of NO, TNF-alpha and IL-8 in the cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) of patients with tuberculous and cryptococcic meningitis were detected. The results showed that the concentration of NO2-/NO3- and the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-8 in CSF of the two kinds of meningitis were higher than those of normal CSF, and the concentration of NO2-/NO3- correlated positively to the content of TNF-alpha. The results indicate that the over production of NO, TNF-alpha and IL-8 in CSF may involve in the tissue inflammation and damage of central nerve system infection.