Hypothermia induces anti-inflammatory cytokines and inhibits nitric oxide and myeloperoxidase-mediated damage in the hearts of endotoxemic rats.

Study Objective: s: The impairment of cardiac contractility during endotoxemia involves induction of nitric oxide formation through a cascade of events initiated by overexpression of proinflammatory cytokines. We previously showed that hypothermia attenuates endotoxin-induced overexpression of nitric oxide in rat lungs. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that hypothermia protects against endotoxin-induced myocardial inflammation by changing the balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, inhibiting myeloperoxidase, an indicator of neutrophil activity, and inhibiting nitric oxide-mediated protein damage.

Hypothermia induces interleukin-10 and attenuates injury in the lungs of endotoxemic rats.

We recently reported that hypothermia protects against intrapulmonary nitric oxide overproduction and nitric oxide-mediated lung injury in endotoxemic rats. Few studies have been performed to investigate whether hypothermia reduces inflammation by affecting favorable changes in chemokine and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine profiles. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that hypothermia decreases concentrations of growth-related oncogene/cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (GRO/CINC-1), interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and myeloperoxidase and increases concentration of IL-10 in the lungs endotoxemic rats.

Dexamethasone suppresses iNOS yet induces GTPCH and CAT-2 mRNA expression in rat lungs.

The in vivo mechanisms by which glucocorticoids inhibit nitric oxide expression await detailed investigation. In cell culture experiments, glucocorticoids have been shown to inhibit inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) formation and activity. Glucocorticoids can inhibit iNOS activity in cultured cells by blocking arginine transport and inhibiting tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis.

Hypothermia attenuates iNOS, CAT-1, CAT-2, and nitric oxide expression in lungs of endotoxemic rats.

Endotoxemia stimulates endogenous nitric oxide formation, induces transcription of arginine transporters, and causes lung injury. Hypothermia inhibits nitric oxide formation and is used as a means of organ preservation. We hypothesized that hypothermia inhibits endotoxin-induced intrapulmonary nitric oxide formation and that this inhibition is associated with attenuated transcription of enzymes that regulate nitric oxide formation, such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and the cationic amino acid transporters 1 (CAT-1) and 2 (CAT-2).