State of antioxidative protection in central nervous ganglia of the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis at modulation of activity of the NO-ergic system

In experiments on mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis, the state of antioxidative protection is studied in central nervous ganglia during a long-term activation (inhibition) of synthesis of nitrogen monoxide (NO) in the body. The effect of the blocker of NO-synthase NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) at the background of enhancement of pulmonary respiration has been found to be associated with a rise of levels of reduced glutathione and TBK-active products in the nervous tissue at preservation of a relatively high superoxide dismutase activity and a low glutathione peroxidase activity compared with the control group and the animals treated with the metabolic precursor of NO synthesis L-arginine. In spite of the revealed disturbances of balance of the body proand antioxidative system, DNA electrophoresis detected no products of its degradation, which can indicate the absence of massive programmed death of the nervous tissue cells in Lymnaea stagnalis during modulation of activity of the NO-ergic system.