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Lymphocytes and not IFN-γ mediate expression of iNOS by intestinal epithelium in murine cryptosporidiosis

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Abstract

We hypothesized that unrecognized differences in epithelial expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), resulting from engineered immunodeficiency, could explain the contradictory findings of prior studies regarding the importance of nitric oxide (NO) in murine models of Cryptosporidium parvum infection. Severe combined immunodeficient mice (SCID) failed to constitutively or inducibly express epithelial iNOS or increase NO synthesis in response to C. parvum infection. In contrast, mice lacking IFN-γ alone induced both epithelial iNOS expression and NO synthesis in response to infection. Accordingly, lymphocytes mediate epithelial expression of iNOS and NO synthesis independent of IFN-γ in response to C. parvum infection. These findings in large part explain the contradictory conclusions of prior studies regarding the role of iNOS in C. parvum infection.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (P30 DK034987) from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive Diseases and Kidney. We thank Maria R. Stone, Martha U. Armstrong, and Marjory Gray for their technical assistance.

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  1. North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, 4700 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC, 27606, USA

    Shila K. Nordone & Jody L. Gookin

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  1. Shila K. Nordone
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  2. Jody L. Gookin
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Correspondence to Jody L. Gookin.

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Nordone, S.K., Gookin, J.L. Lymphocytes and not IFN-γ mediate expression of iNOS by intestinal epithelium in murine cryptosporidiosis. Parasitol Res 106, 1507–1511 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1837-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1837-7

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