|
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
2 Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
3 Perlmutter Laboratory, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
4 Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
5 Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: esilverm{at}hsph.harvard.edu.
Asthmatics have increased levels of nitric oxide in their exhaled air. To explore its role, we have developed a regulatable transgenic mouse capable of overexpressing inducible nitric oxide synthase in a lung-specific fashion. The CC10-rtTA-NOS-2 mouse contains two transgenes, a reverse tetracycline transactivator under the control of the Clara cell protein promoter and the mouse nitric oxide synthase-2 coding region under control of a tetracycline operator. Addition of doxycycline to the drinking water of CC10-rtTA-NOS-2 mice causes an increase in nitric oxide synthase-2 that is largely confined to the airway epithelium. The fraction of expired nitric oxide increases over the first 24 h from ~10 parts per billion to a plateau of ~20 parts per billion. There were no obvious differences between CC10-rtTA-NOS-2 mice, with or without doxycycline, and wild-type mice in lung histology, bronchoalveolar protein, total cell count, or count differentials. However, airway resistance was lower in CC10-rtTA-NOS-2 mice with doxycycline than in CC10-rtTA-NOS-2 mice without doxycycline or wild-type mice with doxycycline. Moreover, doxycycline-treated CC10-rtTA-NOS-2 mice were hyporesponsive to methacholine as compared with other groups. These data suggest that increased nitric oxide in the airways has no proinflammatory effects per se and may have beneficial effects on pulmonary function.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S. A. Shore, E. S. Williams, and M. Zhu No effect of metformin on the innate airway hyperresponsiveness and increased responses to ozone observed in obese mice J Appl Physiol, October 1, 2008; 105(4): 1127 - 1133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. A. Johnston, T. A. Theman, F. L. Lu, R. D. Terry, E. S. Williams, and S. A. Shore Diet-induced obesity causes innate airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine and enhances ozone-induced pulmonary inflammation J Appl Physiol, June 1, 2008; 104(6): 1727 - 1735. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. G. Martin and T. Jo Genetic Differences in Airway Smooth Muscle Function Proceedings of the ATS, January 1, 2008; 5(1): 73 - 79. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Papapetropoulos, D. C. M. Simoes, G. Xanthou, C. Roussos, and C. Gratziou Soluble guanylyl cyclase expression is reduced in allergic asthma Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, January 1, 2006; 290(1): L179 - L184. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. A. Johnston, T. A. Theman, and S. A. Shore Augmented responses to ozone in obese carboxypeptidase E-deficient mice Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, January 1, 2006; 290(1): R126 - R133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A.-K. Larsson, M. Back, J. Hjoberg, and S.-E. Dahlen Inhibition of Nitric-Oxide Synthase Enhances Antigen-Induced Contractions and Increases Release of Cysteinyl-Leukotrienes in Guinea Pig Lung Parenchyma: Nitric Oxide as a Protective Factor J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., October 1, 2005; 315(1): 458 - 465. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. T. Ameredes, J. M. Sethi, H.-L. Liu, A. M. K. Choi, and W. J. Calhoun Enhanced nitric oxide production associated with airway hyporesponsiveness in the absence of IL-10 Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, May 1, 2005; 288(5): L868 - L873. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |