IDENTIFICATION OF NITRIC OXIDE RELATED PROTEIN EXPRESSED IN TRANSACTIVATED ITO CELLS

伊藤细胞在调节肝窦血流中起关键作用，因为它们响应内皮素-1而收缩并产生一氧化氮以扩张肝窦。在Ito细胞纯化方面的进展使我们能够获得高纯度的细胞，我们通过Ito细胞中精氨酸转运和一氧化氮产生来精确地研究这一过程。在本研究中，我们开发了单克隆抗体，用于纯化转化的Ito细胞在诱导型一氧化氮合成过程中瞬时表达的蛋白，部分氨基酸序列显示其为未知蛋白。我们需要进一步的研究来认识这些蛋白质在诱导型一氧化氮合酶诱导的Ito细胞中的作用。肝纤维化的发展是慢性肝病中威胁生命的并发症。口服精氨酸（一氧化氮的底物）可能是增加慢性肝病窦血流量的一种有前途的方法。对Ito细胞表达的iNOS相关蛋白的新认识可能为改善肝血流提供重要信息。

Ito cells have a key role in regulating hepatic sinusoidal blood flow, because they contract in response to endothelin-1 and produce nitric oxide to dilate sinusoids. Progress in purification of Ito cells enabled us to obtain highly-purified cells and we investigate this process precisely through arginine transport and nitric oxide production in Ito cells. In this study, we developed monoclonal antibody for purifying protein transiently expressed in transformed Ito cells during the process of iNOS mediated nitric oxide production and partial amino acid sequence revealed it as unknown proteins. We need further investigation to recognize the role of these proteins in Ito cells during iNOS induction.Development of liver fibrosis is a life-threatening complications in chronic liver diseases. Oral administration of arginine, the substrate of nitric oxide, may be a promising way of an increase in sinusoidal blood flow in chronic liver diseases. A new insight into the iNOS related proteins expressed in Ito cells may provide an important information for improving hepatic blood flow.