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From the * Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of
Pediatrics, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; Intranasal Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection of mice caused pneumonia. Manifestations of the disease included: histological pneumonitis, pulmonary influx of lymphocytes, decreased pulmonary compliance, and decreased survival. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated iNOS induction and the nitrotyrosine antigen in the lungs of infected, but not
uninfected mice, suggesting that nitric oxide contributes to the development of pneumonia. To elucidate the role of nitric oxide in the pathogenesis of HSV-1 pneumonia, infected mice
were treated either with the inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase activity, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA), or, as a control, with PBS or D-NMMA. L-NMMA treatment decreased the
histological evidence of pneumonia and reduced the bronchoalveolar lavage lymphocyte number to one-quarter of the total measured in control-treated mice. L-NMMA treatment significantly improved survival and pulmonary compliance of HSV-1-infected mice. Strikingly, the
L-NMMA-mediated suppression of pneumonia occurred despite the presence of a 17-fold higher pulmonary viral titer. Taken together, these data demonstrated a previously unrecognized
role of nitric oxide in HSV-1-induced pneumonia. Of note, suppression of pneumonia occurred despite higher pulmonary virus content; therefore, our data suggest that HSV-1 pneumonia is due to aspects of the inflammatory response rather than to direct viral cytopathic effects.
Physiology
Program, Harvard School of Public Health and Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's
Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; § Pulmonary Division, Department of Pediatrics, Children's
Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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