title: Direct EPR Detection of Nitric Oxide in Mice Infected with the Pathogenic Mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: It has been shown that treatment of mice preinfected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis with spin NO traps (iron complexes with diethyldithiocarbamate) enables detection of large amounts of NO in internal organs 2 and 4 weeks after infection (up to 55-57 mumol/kg of wet lung tissue accumulated with spin NO traps during 30 min). The animals were infected with the drug-sensitive laboratory strain H37Rv and a clinical isolate nonrespondent to antituberculous drugs (the multidrug-resistant strain of M. tuberculosis) obtained from a patient with an active form of tuberculosis. Two weeks after infection with the multidrug-resistant strain, the NO level in the lungs, spleen, liver and kidney increased sharply concurrently with slight lesions of lung tissue. A reverse correlation, i.e., low level of NO in the lungs and other internal organs and extensive injury of lung tissue, was established for H37Rv-infected mice. Four weeks after infection, NO production in the lungs increased dramatically for both M. tuberculosis strains resulting in 80-84% damage of lung tissue. The lesion is suggested to be due to the development of defense mechanisms in M. tuberculosis counteracting NO effects.
authors.forename: Anatoly F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Vanin
authors.forename: Raisa P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Selitskaya
authors.forename: Vladimir A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Serezhenkov
authors.forename: Galina N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Mozhokina