Chronic dietary L-arginine down-regulates adenosine receptor and nitric oxide synthase expression in rat heart

L-Arginine increases myocardial nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide mediates many of the cardiovascular actions of adenosine and modulates adenosine metabolism. In this study, we examined the effect of chronic L-arginine (5 percent) intake on cardiac nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and adenosine receptor expression and cardiac function in rat Langendorff-isolated perfused hearts. Our results show that 4-week chronic L-arginine ingestion increases the weight of rat hearts by 17.6 percent.