Neuronal expression of NOS-1 is required for host recovery from viral encephalitis. |
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| Authors: | T Komatsu D D Ireland N Chen C S Reiss |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Biology, Center for Neural Science, Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center, New York University, 100 Washington Square East, mail code 5181, New York, New York, 10003-6688, USA. |
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| Abstract: | The role of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in host defense and clearance of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) from the central nervous system (CNS) was examined. NOS-1, NOS-2, and NOS-3 knockout mice were infected with VSV and were treated with either IL-12 or medium. IL-12 treatment resulted in substantially decreased VSV titers in wildtype and NOS-3 knockout mice, but had a marginal effect in the NOS-1 and NOS-2 knockout mice. NOS-1 expression in neurons was associated with survival from VSV infection. The data indicate that the enzyme activity is local, since NOS-2 expression in microglia and inflammatory macrophages and NOS-3 expression in astrocytes, endothelial cells, and ependymal cells did not compensate. |
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