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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Feb 15.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Res Bull. 2009 Sep 6;81(2-3):303. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2009.08.025

Table 1.

Effects of excessive arginase activity

1. Reduces the NOS substrate L-arginine, leading to decreased NO production and increased production of O2˙− by uncoupled NOS.

  1. For eNOS - results in reduced blood flow, enhanced platelet aggregation and leukostasis with resultant tissue dysfunction and inflammation.

  2. For nNOS - results in reduced production of NO in nitrinergic nerves and vascular smooth muscle in response to hypoxia and thus impairs ability of vessel to maintain blood flow with hypoxia-induced sympathetic nerve activity. Inflammation.

  3. For iNOS – results in limited production of otherwise high levels of NO, reducing nitrosylation of NF-κβ (subunits p65/p50) and suppression of its function. The result is uncontrolled iNOS expression and enhanced cytokine production / inflammation.

2. Increased levels of arginase products – ornithine, polyamines and proline.

  1. Ornithine – immediate product of arginase, a cationic amino acid that completes with L-arginine for entry into cells, which can reduce availability of L-arginine to NOS.

  2. Polyamines – produced from ornithine by ODC, can cause cell proliferation.

  3. Proline – produced from ornithine by OAT pathway and is critical component of collagen production.

Results – pathological vascular growth and fibrosis.
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