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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2004, p. 250-254, Vol. 11, No. 2
1071-412X/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.11.2.250-254.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rectal Nitric Oxide Gas and Stool Cytokine Levels during the Course of Infectious Gastroenteritis

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Huddinge,¹ Division of Pharmacology, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute,² Division of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Surgical Science,³ Department of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden⁴

Received 10 June 2003/ Returned for modification 31 October 2003/ Accepted 8 December 2003

Nitric oxide (NO) is known to be an important inflammatory mediator with a potential role in gastrointestinal diseases. We prospectively studied the luminal NO levels in 51 patients with infectious gastroenteritis, 35 patients with nonenteric bacterial infections, and 11 healthy control subjects. The levels of proinflammatory cytokines were simultaneously measured in the stools of patients with gastroenteritis. Rectal gas was sampled with balloon catheters made of silicone and was analyzed for NO levels by chemiluminescence. The median rectal NO level was 2,450 ppb in the acute phase of gastroenteritis and gradually decreased to 225 ppb after 3 to 8 weeks, whereas the median NO values were 150 ppb in patients with nonenteric bacterial infections and 100 ppb in healthy control subjects. Patients with Salmonella, Shigella, and Campylobacter infections generally had more severe symptoms and a higher median NO level (17,250 ppb) than patients with Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (median NO value, 275 ppb). Interleukin-1ß levels were elevated in 82% of the patients at disease onset and decreased during the convalescent phase. In contrast, gamma interferon was detected in only 16% of the patients and was predominantly collected in stool samples collected during the subacute and convalescent stages. Our data point to the possibility of using this easy, minimally invasive method for luminal NO measurement as a diagnostic tool, among others, to evaluate the degree of intestinal inflammation in patients with infectious gastroenteritis.

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