LOCAL NITRIC-OXIDE PRODUCTION IN VIRAL AND AUTOIMMUNE-DISEASES OF THECENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM

Because of the short half-life of NO, previous studies implicating NO in central nervous system pathology during infection had to rely on th e demonstration of elevated levels of NO synthase mRNA or enzyme expre ssion or NO metabolites such as nitrate and nitrite in the infected br ain, To more definitively investigate the potential causative role of NO in lesions of the central nervous system in animals infected with n eurotropic viruses or suffering from experimental allergic encephaliti s, we have determined directly the levels of NO present in the central nervous system of such animals. Using spin trapping of NO and electro n paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, we confirm here that copious am ounts of NO (up to 30-fold more than control) are elaborated in the br ains of rats infected with rabies virus or borna disease virus, as wel l as in the spinal cords of rats that had received myelin basic protei n-specific T cells.