RAISED SERUM NITRATE AND NITRITE LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

Nitric oxide and its highly reactive derivative peroxynitrite have bee n implicated as non-specific inflammatory mediators of neuronal and ol igodendrocyte damage and death in multiple sclerosis. In a cross-secti onal study we found levels of the nitric oxide metabolites nitrate and nitrite to be raised in the serum of patients with demyelinating dise ase (65.6 mu M (SD 32.9)), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (57.9 m u M (SD 34.9)) and inflammatory neurological disease (57.5 mu M (SD 31 .3)), compared with normal control subjects (32.8 mu M (SD 12.2)) and patients with non-inflammatory neurological disease (41.1 mu M (SD 12. 3), p < 0.001). Nitric oxide metabolites were raised in all clinical s ubtypes of multiple sclerosis, as well as in clinically isolated syndr omes compatible with demyelination, and related to progressive disease or disability. This study provides further evidence for a role of nit ric oxide in the immunopathogenesis of inflammatory diseases of the ce ntral nervous system, including multiple sclerosis. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.