Abstract
Severely inflamed colonic sections of IL-2 (-/-) mice showed up to 19-fold increased iNOS mRNA levels. The level of iNOS protein expression corresponded to the increased iNOS mRNA levels as detected by means of Western blot analysis. There was a clear, positive relationship between the level of iNOS expression and the degree of inflammation in the colonic tissue of IL-2 (-/-) and wild-type mice. Our data suggest that iNOS may play a key role in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis-like disease in IL-2 (-/-) mice. Further investigation should elucidate the impact of NO on the regulation of the inflammatory process in this model and might contribute to a better understanding of the role iNOS expression in human immune-mediated diseases.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Colitis, Ulcerative / enzymology
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Colitis, Ulcerative / genetics
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Colitis, Ulcerative / immunology
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Colon / immunology
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Humans
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Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / enzymology*
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Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / genetics
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Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / immunology
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Interleukin-2 / deficiency
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Interleukin-2 / genetics
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Interleukin-2 / physiology*
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Intestinal Mucosa / enzymology*
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Mice
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Mice, Knockout
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Nitric Oxide Synthase / genetics*
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Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II
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RNA, Messenger / genetics
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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
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Transcription, Genetic*
Substances
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Interleukin-2
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RNA, Messenger
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NOS2 protein, human
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Nitric Oxide Synthase
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Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II
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Nos2 protein, mouse