[Follow-up of nitric oxide levels in acute hepatitis B patients]

Although increased nitric oxide (NO) production may contribute to the pathological changes featuring in some inflammatory diseases, the exact role of NO in viral hepatitis is still unclear. This study has been planned to evaluate the possible correlation between the serum nitric oxide levels and the disease activity, in patients with acute viral hepatitis B. The hepatitis markers were studied by microenzyme immunoassay, the presence of HBV-DNA was searched by polymerase chain reaction, ALT levels were determined by the photometric method in Olympus auto-analyzer, and NO levels were assessed by colorimetric Griess reaction, in the sera of 100 patients. The patients who were positive for HBsAg, anti-HBc total and HBV-DNA, with ALT levels of 5 folds higher than normal values, have been diagnosed as acute hepatitis B. The serum samples of these patients were tested again by means of the above markers six months later, and the ones who were negative for HBsAg, and HBV-DNA, with normal ALT levels were accepted as recovered (group A), while the ones who were still positive for HBsAg and HBV-DNA, with normal and/or high ALT levels, were accepted as chronic cases (group B). The NO levels of patients at the beginning and 6 months later, were compared and it was found that, the NO concentrations of acute hepatitis B patients (96.5 +/- 14.8 muMol/L), were significantly higher than group A (73.5 +/- 15.5 muMol/L) and group B (67 +/- 5.6 muMol/L) (p < 0.05), while there were no statistically significant difference between the groups A and B (p < 0.05). As a result, it was concluded that the increased production of NO, detected in patients with acute viral hepatitis B, would contribute to the immunopathogenesis of the disease, however this data should be confirmed by detailed studies.