Direct EPR Detection of Nitric Oxide in Mice Infected with the Pathogenic Mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis

• Published in: Applied magnetic resonance 2010-03, Vol.38 (1), p.95-104
• Main Authors: Vanin, Anatoly F., Selitskaya, Raisa P., Serezhenkov, Vladimir A., Mozhokina, Galina N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Atoms and Molecules in Strong Fields; Bioaccumulation; Drug resistance; Experiments; Hemoglobin; Immunocompetence; Infections; Laser Matter Interaction; Lesions; Liver; Localization; Low level; Lungs; Multidrug resistant organisms; Neutrophils; Nitric oxide; Organic Chemistry; Organs; Pathogens; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Pneumonia; Solid State Physics; Spectroscopy/Spectrometry; Spleen; Tuberculosis
• ISSN: 0937-9347; 1613-7507
• DOI: 10.1007/s00723-009-0038-y

It has been shown that treatment of mice preinfected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis with spin NO traps (iron complexes with diethyldithiocarbamate) enables detection of large amounts of NO in internal organs 2 and 4 weeks after infection (up to 55–57 μmol/kg of wet lung tissue accumulated with spin NO traps during 30 min). The animals were infected with the drug-sensitive laboratory strain H37Rv and a clinical isolate nonrespondent to antituberculous drugs (the multidrug-resistant strain of M. tuberculosis ) obtained from a patient with an active form of tuberculosis. Two weeks after infection with the multidrug-resistant strain, the NO level in the lungs, spleen, liver and kidney increased sharply concurrently with slight lesions of lung tissue. A reverse correlation, i.e., low level of NO in the lungs and other internal organs and extensive injury of lung tissue, was established for H37Rv-infected mice. Four weeks after infection, NO production in the lungs increased dramatically for both M. tuberculosis strains resulting in 80–84% damage of lung tissue. The lesion is suggested to be due to the development of defense mechanisms in M. tuberculosis counteracting NO effects.