Figure 1.

Glucocorticoids upregulate hippocampal nNOS expression. A, Immunoblots showing hippocampal nNOS and nitrotyrosine levels in mice (n = 3–4). B, Representative sample of nNOS⁺ neurons from the hippocampal CA3 and DG areas (top) and number of nNOS⁺ neurons in the hippocampus in mice (bottom; n = 4–5). A, B, Mice were exposed to CMS for 21 d with or without metyrapone (100 mg/kg/d, s.c.). C, Immunoblots showing hippocampal nNOS and nitrotyrosine levels of the mice treated with corticosterone (40 mg/kg/d s.c.) for 0, 7, 14, or 21 d (n = 3). D, Immunoblots showing nNOS levels in the cultured hippocampal neurons incubated with 10 μm corticosterone or its vehicle for 0.5, 2, 6, 12, or 24 h (n = 3). E, Immunoblots showing nNOS levels in the OHSCs incubated with corticosterone for 24 h at the concentrations indicated (n = 3). F, Representative imaging of NO synthesis revealed by DAF-FM staining (top) and histograms showing the fluorescence intensities (bottom) in the hippocampal neurons exposed to 10 μm corticosterone for 24 h (n = 4). Error bars denote SEM; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, one-way ANOVA. NT, Nitrotyrosine; Met, metyrapone.