title: Peripheral blood leukocyte NO production and oxidative stress in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The reason for increased peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) nitric oxide (NO) production in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether PBL NO production is related to measures of oxidative stress.
  
  
  METHODS
  PBL nitrite, diene conjugates (DC, a measure of undergone oxidative stress), antiradical activity (ARA) and antioxidant acitvity (AOA) were measured in 35 healthy control persons and 80 patients with MS. We investigated the correlation of these measures with a partial correlation analysis, with age as the control variable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant correlation in both MS patients and healthy control persons between PBL nitrite levels and PBL DC, ARA and AOA. The correlations were stronger in healthy control persons. An analysis by disease subtype showed that the correlations were present in patients with relapsing-remitting and secondary progressive MS, but absent in primary progressive MS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PBL nitrite levels and measures of oxidative stress are closely related in MS-patients as well as in healthy control persons. Increased serum NO levels in MS may be the result of a physiologic reaction to overall oxidative stress. The differences in the strength of correlation between different disease subtypes may reflect differences in leukocyte biology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. m.w.koch@neuro.umcg.nl
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Jop
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mostert
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arutjunyan
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stepanov
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teelken
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Heersema
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Keyser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000378:metabolism; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D009573:Nitrites / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000276:immunology*; D010851:Picrates
chemical_list: D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D009573:Nitrites; D010851:Picrates; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; C004931:1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl