02492nas a2200433   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001500055653001000070653001500080653003700095653002100132653001100153653001100164653001200175653002400187653002500211653000900236653001600245653001700261653001700278653001400295653003200309653003000341653002200371100001300393700001500406700001200421700001600433700001400449700001400463245017600477856005900653300001100712490000700723050003200730520128200762022001402044       2000                            d  c2000 Sep10aAdolescent10aAdult10aBiomarkers10aDose-Response Relationship, Drug10aErythema Nodosum10aFemale10aHumans10aleprosy10aLeprosy, Borderline10aLeprosy, lepromatous10aMale10aMiddle Aged10aNitric Oxide10aPrednisolone10aPrognosis10aSensitivity and Specificity10aStatistics, Nonparametric10aTreatment Outcome1 aSchön T1 aLeekassa R1 aGebre N1 aSundqvist T1 aBizuneh E1 aBritton S00aHigh dose prednisolone treatment of leprosy patients undergoing reactions is associated with a rapid decrease in urinary nitric oxide metabolites and clinical improvement.  uhttp://leprev.ilsl.br/pdfs/2000/v71n3/pdf/v71n3a16.pdf  a355-620 v71  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>Evidence is accumulating that nitric oxide (NO) produced by macrophages has a role in the pathogenesis of reactions in leprosy. We followed the urinary levels of the metabolites of NO [nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-)] and the clinical response to prednisolone treatment in leprosy patients (n = 9) admitted to ALERT leprosy hospital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, because of reversal reaction (RR) or erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL). In untreated reactional leprosy patients, the levels of urinary NO metabolites (1645 +/- 454 microM, n = 9, ENL = 4, RR = 5) decreased significantly 2 weeks after high dose prednisolone treatment (1075 +/- 414 microM, P < 0.05), and remained stable 4 (895 +/- 385 microM, P < 0.02) and 6 weeks following treatment initiation (1048 +/- 452 microM, P < 0.02). This decrease was also present when the reactional patients were subdivided according to the type of reaction (ENL, RR) and coincided with a clinical improvement. In patients showing a poor clinical response to steroids, no or minor effects on the urinary NO metabolite levels were observed. We conclude that there is a correlation between the decrease in urinary NO metabolites and a favourable clinical response after high dose prednisolone treatment of reactional leprosy patients.</p>  a0305-7518