Nitric oxide inhibits Marek's disease virus replication but is not the single decisive factor in interferon-gamma-mediated viral inhibition.

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent nitric oxide (NO) may play a role in the antiviral-mediated effect of chicken IFN-gamma against the Marek's disease virus (MDV) RB-1B. NO-generating compounds S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) and 3-morpholino-sydononimine (SIN-1) strongly inhibited RB-1B replication in chicken embryo fibroblasts (85%) in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of superoxide dismutase (SOD) did not alter the inhibitory effect of SIN-1, which is also known to generate superoxide anions. IFN-gamma-stimulated embryo fibroblasts almost totally suppressed viral replication and were high NO producers. Nevertheless, addition of N(G)-monomethyl-l-arginine (l-NMMA), a competitive inhibitor of NO synthase, inhibited NO production without preventing the dramatic viral suppression. IFN-gamma-stimulated chicken bone-marrow macrophages were good NO producers and demonstrated a specific cell dose-related inhibiting effect on RB-1B replication in bystander fibroblasts (around 60% at 10(6) macrophages). Adding l-NMMA together with oxygen scavengers such as SOD or d-mannitol restored viral replication almost completely. In conclusion, NO alone is a powerful inhibitor of MDV replication in chicken fibroblasts. Nevertheless, NO is not responsible for the direct inhibitory effect of the IFN-gamma treatment of fibroblasts and is only partially involved in the inhibitory effect of IFN-gamma-stimulated macrophages, which is also mediated by reactive oxygen intermediates.