Nitric oxide sera levels as an inflammatory marker in asthma.

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide is an important regulator of various biological activities in human physiology, and it has been studied in the physiopathology of asthma, especially in exhaled air. OBJECTIVE: We studied the presence of NO in sera of patients with distinct degrees of asthma severity in order to determine a parameter of diagnosis and control of efficacious treatment. METHODS: We determined the presence of NO based upon the Griess reaction in the sera of 124 donors--34 controls and 90 asthmatic subjects. RESULTS: Asthmatic patients presented higher levels of nitric oxide in peripheral blood (56.54 +/- 33.37) compared to the control group (3.06 +/- 4.48). A statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001) between the nitric oxide sera levels from the two groups was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that nitric oxide sera levels can be used as an additional inflammatory marker in asthma, especially as an auxiliary diagnostic method in children where NO exhaled air analysis is difficult.