Morphometry of Rat Jejunal Enterocytes Number and Height after L-Arginine and L-NAME Administration

Background: Nowadays nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule which acts as a regulator of many physiological processes in many tissues including epithelial cell of gastrointestinal tract. In this study, we investigated the effects of L-Argentine as a NO precursor and L-NAME as a NO inhibitor on epithelial cell number and height of jejuna epithelium in rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 40 adult female rats with 8 weeks age and 200-250 g weight were divided into 5 groups, containing 8 rats in each group. Except the control group, the other groups received normal saline (2 mL/kg), L-Argentine (200 mg/kg), L-NAME (20 mg/kg) and a mixture of 2 substances for L-argentine and L-NAME group intraperitonealy for 3 days. Two weeks later, jejunum was expelled out and after fixation and tissue processing, the sections were stained with Hematoxylin & Eosin method and the changes were assessed. Cell number and height was evaluated using Image Tools III Microsoft software. Statistical analysis was made by One-Way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc test to evaluate the statistical significance between different groups. A value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There was a significant increase in the cell number and height of jejuna epithelium in L-Argentine group (p < 0.05). Whereas no significant difference was observed between L-NAME, L-Arginine+L-NAME, normal saline and control groups. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that L-Argentine can result in proliferation of jejuna epithelial cells whereas L-NAME has no effect on these cells.