title: Altered immune responses in mice lacking inducible nitric oxide synthase.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is important in many biological functions. It is generated from L-arginine by the enzyme NO synthase (NOS). The cytokine-inducible NOS (iNOS) is activated by several immunological stimuli, leading to the production of large quantities of NO which can be cytotoxic. To define the biological role of iNOS further, we generated iNOS mutant mice. These are viable, fertile and without evident histopathological abnormalities. However, in contrast to wild-type and heterozygous mice, which are highly resistant to the protozoa parasite Leishmania major infection, mutant mice are uniformly susceptible. The infected mutant mice developed a significantly stronger Th1 type of immune response than the wild-type or heterozygous mice. The mutant mice showed reduced nonspecific inflammatory response to carrageenin, and were resistant to lipopolysaccharide-induced mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, University of Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: X Q
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ure
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moncada
authors.forename: F Y
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Liew
mesh_terms: D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002351:Carrageenan / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002678:Chimera; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000276:immunology; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000276:immunology; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology; D017737:Macrophages, Peritoneal / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D016296:Mutagenesis; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D002351:Carrageenan; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases