title: HIV-1 induced decrease of nitric oxide production and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression during in vivo and in vitro infection.
abstract: Nitric oxide (*NO) has been implicated in immunopathogenesis of HIV-1 infection. Initial reports using low sensitive techniques showed elevated levels of *NO in sera and tissues from seropositive patients. These results were not further supported using similar experimental approaches. To gain insight on *NO deregulation during HIV-1 infection, we used recently described fluorescent probes with enhanced sensitivity to assess *NO levels combined with iNOS mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from HIV-infected patients or after in vitro HIV-1 infection of normal cells. We demonstrate that PBMC from HIV-infected patients display a significant decrease of *NO production and iNOS mRNA expression. Results from in vitro infection showed that HIV-1 induces a significant decrease in *NO production and iNOS mRNA expression. Since *NO could play a role in some key processes like apoptosis, regulation of immune responses and viral replication, these results could help in elucidating HIV-1 immunopathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Clinica Medica "C", Hospital de Clinicas, Facultad de Medicina, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cairoli
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scott-Algara
authors.forename: Otto
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pritsch
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dighiero
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cayota
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000378:metabolism*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II