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a Department of Paediatric Surgery
Institute of Child Health Alder Hey Children's
Hospital, Liverpool, b Department of Biochemistry,
University of Liverpool
Correspondence to: Mr Paul Losty Institute of Child Health Alder Hey Children's Hospital Eaton Road, Liverpool L12 2AP.
Accepted 14 January 1998
AIMS
To study the effect of prenatal
glucocorticoid treatment on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)
expression in rats with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).
METHODS
CDH was induced in fetal rats by the
maternal administration of nitrofen on day 9.5 of gestation.
Dexamethasone was administered on days 18.5 and 19.5 before delivery of
the fetuses on days 20.5 and 21.5. Pulmonary eNOS protein expression
was studied by western immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry.
RESULTS
On day 20.5, eNOS expression was
significantly reduced in CDH pups compared with normal control rats.
Dexamethasone treated CDH pups had eNOS concentrations equivalent to
those of normal animals. By day 21.5, however, there was no detectable
difference in eNOS expression between the experimental groups.
CONCLUSIONS
eNOS is deficient in near term (day
20.5) CDH rats. Dexamethasone restores eNOS expression in these animals
to that seen in normal rat lungs. At term, the precise role of eNOS in
the pathophysiology of CDH remains uncertain.
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