The NOS/sGC pathway in the rat central nervous system: a microdialysis overview

It is now well established that nitric oxide is involved in a variety of physiopathological processes in the central nervous system, which mainly result from the interaction of this gaseous molecule with the heme group of soluble guanylyl cyclase and the elevation of intracellular cGMP in target neurons. During the last decade, several studies have monitored extracellular cGMP, by means of intracerebral microdialysis, to investigate in vivo the functioning and modulation of this neurochemical pathway under different experimental conditions and in various brain regions. In this review, we summarise some of the most relevant results obtained in this research field.