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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2015; 21(14): 4126-4135
Published online Apr 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i14.4126
Published online Apr 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i14.4126
Thalidomide ameliorates portal hypertension via nitric oxide synthase independent reduced systolic blood pressure
Nicholas G Theodorakis, Mary A Maluccio, Nicholas J Skill, Division of Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, United States
Yining N Wang, Vyacheslav A Korshunov, School of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14611, United States
Author contributions: Theodorakis NG, Wang YN, Korshunov VA and Skill NJ performed the research; Skill NJ and Theodorakis NG designed the research; Skill NJ and Maluccio MA wrote the paper.
Supported by The Departments of Surgery at the University of Rochester and Indiana University.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Nicholas J Skill, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Indiana University, C519, 980 West Walnut Street (R3), Indianapolis, IN 46202, United States. nskill@iupui.edu
Telephone: +1-317-2744532 Fax: +1-317-2748046
Received: June 12, 2014
Peer-review started: June 12, 2014
First decision: July 9, 2014
Revised: July 30, 2014
Accepted: October 15, 2014
Article in press: October 15, 2014
Published online: April 14, 2015
Peer-review started: June 12, 2014
First decision: July 9, 2014
Revised: July 30, 2014
Accepted: October 15, 2014
Article in press: October 15, 2014
Published online: April 14, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: The research innovation detailed in this manuscript is the use of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoform specific gene deleted mice to better understand the underlying mechanisms for the development of portal hypertension (PHT). PHT is a significant complication of liver disease and increases morbidity and mortality. Our study examined the hypothesis that the compound thalidomide reduces PHT by decreasing the biosynthesis of nitric oxide (NO) via destabilizing tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA levels. We demonstrate that thalidomide induces NO via increased inducible nitric oxide synthase isoform of NOS; however, thalidomide reduction in PHT was NOS isoform independent.