Kinetic evaluation of nitric oxide production in pleural exudate after induction of two inflammatory reactions in the rat.

NO generation in the course of two acute, non immune, inflammatory reactions (pleurisy induced by rat isologous serum and carrageenan) was assessed by means of nitrite measurement in pleural exudate from 0.5 to 24 h. NO release varied time-dependently, similarly for the two inflammatory reactions. A first, but transient, peak was reached in 30 min while a second peak, more sustained, began at the fourth hour and was maximum at the tenth. Kinetic evolution of NO release was consistent with activation, in a first step, of a constitutive NO synthase probably from endothelial origin (inhibited by 2-Methyl-2-Thiopseudourea sulfate but not by dexamethasone) and with activation, in a second wave, of inducible NOS from endothelial and exudative cells. NO release was potentiated by administration per os of L-Arginine and seems to be involved in the evolution of acute inflammatory reactions and oxygen metabolite production.