Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2008 Nov;51(11):1004-1008.

Change of Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression and Dynamic Ciliary Activity Responding to Nitric Oxide in Sinusitis Mucosa

• Kim HY
• Kim IS
• Chung YJ
• Kang JW
• Ahn JC
• Rhee CS

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There are conflicting results about ciliary activity in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Dynamic movements reacting to various stimuli in CRS mucosa have been rarely studied. This study was designed to investigate the dynamic ciliary activity in response to nitric oxide stimulation in sinusitis. We aimed to identify the difference in the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in normal and CRS mucosa.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
Nasal mucosal samples were obtained from 25 sinusitis and 15 normal subjects. We measured ciliary beat frequency (CBF) in the basal and activated status. Immunohistochemial staining was used to evaluate the expression of NOS in the sinusitis.
RESULTS
The CRS mucosa showed marked differences in the CBF changes stimulated by NO compared to the normal mucosa; both the maximal increase and duration of increase of CBF by NO were significantly reduced in CRS mucosa. The results of immunohistochemical stain showed that eNOS expression was evident in the normal nasal mucosa and iNOS expression was markedly increased in CRS mucosa.
CONCLUSION
Dynamic ciliary activity responding to NO was markedly attenuated in the CRS mucosa. The L-NAME markedly attenuated the duration of increase and maximal increase of CBF by ATP both in the normal and CRS mucosa. eNOS expression was relatively evident in the normal mucosa, whereas iNOS expression was relatively increased in the CRS mucosa, implicating different actions of NO on CBF.

Keyword

Sinusitis; Mucociliary clearance; Nitric oxide

MeSH Terms

Adenosine Triphosphate
Mucociliary Clearance
Mucous Membrane
Nasal Mucosa
NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester
Nitric Oxide
Nitric Oxide Synthase
Sinusitis
Adenosine Triphosphate
NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester
Nitric Oxide
Nitric Oxide Synthase