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Increased expression of nitric oxide synthase in visual structures of the chick brain after retinal removal

Nitric oxide (NO) seems to act as a retrograde messenger in the establishment and refinement of synaptic connections during development and in neural plasticity processes in adult life. Previous studies have shown that the expression of NO synthase (NOS) in the optic tectum of developing chicks is regulated by the retinal innervation. The aim of this study was to observe the effects of unilateral retinal lesions upon the expression of NOS in central visual areas of the adult chick brain. After different survival times (1–30 days), the chick brains were submitted to immunohistochemical, immunoblotting, and NO imaging procedures to evaluate NOS expression and activity. Our results indicate that NOS expression in visual areas is also regulated by retinal innervation in the adult chick. However, differently from the case in the developing animal, the deafferentation seems to generate an increase of the NOS expression in retinorecipient visual areas. Our results suggest that NOS expression in visual structures of the adult chick brain may be down‐regulated by the retinal innervation. Alternatively, the increase of NOS expression observed after retinal removal could be an indicative of a role of the NO system in plasticity processes. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.