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Immunohistochemical Localization of Nitric Oxide Synthase in Normal Human Skin: Expression of Endothelial‐type and Inducible‐type Nitric Oxide Synthase in Keratinocytes
Author(s) -
Shimizu Yoshinori,
Sakai Masao,
Umemura Yoshiki,
Ueda Hiroshi
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1346-8138.1997.tb02748.x
Subject(s) - nitric oxide synthase , enos , blot , biology , immunohistochemistry , human skin , nitric oxide , microbiology and biotechnology , endothelial nos , nitric oxide synthase type iii , western blot , endocrinology , biochemistry , immunology , genetics , gene
Nitric oxide (NO) is a critical mediator of various biological functions. NO is generated from L‐arginine by nitric oxide synthase (NOS), which has three isoforms; endothelial‐type NOS (eNOS) and brain‐type NOS (bNOS) are constitutive enzymes, and inducible‐type NOS (iNOS) is expressed after stimulation. We investigated the expression of NOS in normal human skin by an immunohistochemical technique and western blotting analysis. In human skin, epidermal keratinocytes and the outer root sheath were labeled with not only eNOS antibody but also with iNOS antibody. Both eNOS and iNOS protein in epidermal keratinocytes were confirmed by western blotting. eNOS immunoreactivity was observed in endothelial cells, fibroblasts, the arrector pili muscle, apocrine secretory gland, eccrine coiled duct, and eccrine secretory gland. bNOS immunoreactivity was observed in mast cells. No staining with anti‐bNOS antibody was observed in any other cell type. Our present findings suggest that epidermal keratinocytes in normal human skin contain both eNOS and iNOS.