Objective: To investigate the gene expression of two kinds of constitutive nitric oxide synthase (cNOS): neuronal NOS (nNOS) and endothelial NOS (eNOS) in injured spinal cord tissue. Methods: Thirty-six adult Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into six groups: the normal group and the injury groups (2, 6, 12, 24, 48 h after injury, respectively). A compression injury model of the spinal cord was made and gene expression of nNOS and eNOS were examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: The gene expression of nNOS and eNOS was detected in the normal group and they were up-regulated quickly after injury, reaching the maximum at 6 h. There was no difference between gene expression of nNOS and eNOS in the normal group, but in each injury group the gene expression of eNOS was much higher than that of nNOS. Conclusions: Expression of constitutive NOS (cNOS) in spinal cord tissue was up-regulated after injury mainly in the early stage. cNOS as a whole offers protection in spinal cord injury, but different cNOS may play different roles.
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