Inducible nitric oxide synthase immunoreactivity in healthy rat pancreas

Nitric oxide (NO) is produced by NO synthase (NOS) isoforms: neuronal NOS (nNOS), endothelial NOS (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS). It is believed that, while nNOS and eNOS are effective in regulation of normal physiological processes, iNOS is expressed at an increasing rate especially in inflammatory process. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of iNOS immunoreactivity (iNOS-IR) and, to compare the iNOS-IR in islet of Langerhans cells (LC), acinar cells (AC), centroacinar cells (CC) and ductal cells (DC) by immunohistochemical (IHC) method in healthy rat pancreata. This study revealed the presence of iNOS-IR in all cell types except AC. Statistical analysis revealed a highly significant difference (p<0.001) with respect to iNOS-IR in comparison of all cell types. However, binary comparison of cell types revealed no significant differences between LC and DC (p=0.136), significant differences LC and CC, CC and DC (p=0.001 and 0.022, respectively) and a highly significant differences LC and AC, AC and DC (P<0.001). The results of this study indicate that iNOS-IR is present in almost all LC. Thus, especially in reseach related to diabetes, it should not be disregarded that iNOS may be constitutively present in pancreatic islets.