Our shifting understanding of the role of nitric oxide in autoimmune encephalomyelitis: a review

Nitric oxide was first described being produced in inflammatory cells invol ved in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in 1992. Since then some 4 5 papers have appeared examining the role of NO in this central nervous sys tem autoimmune inflammatory disease. Of the first 10 papers published all r esulted in the interpretation that NO was a pathologic or ''bad'' molecule in the context of EAE. A few papers then began to appear suggesting that NO may not in fact always be a harmful molecule and by the end of 1997 early 1998, 22 papers suggested a destructive role for the molecule while three s uggested it was protective. The past two years have seen a significant incr ease in reports supporting a protective mechanism for NO in EAE such that a s of July 1999, 27 papers suggest a destructive and 15 a protective role fo r NO with a few uncommitted. This review sets out in a more or less chronol ogical order the studies examining the role of NO in EAE and maps our chang ing understanding of the molecules role in this CNS inflammatory disease an d by inference perhaps multiple sclerosis. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.