In pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis, iNOS-deficiency alters fungal loads and synthesis of cytokines.

<p>(A, B) Recovery of CFUs from the lungs and liver of iNOS^−/− and WT control mice infected i.t. with 1×10⁶ yeasts. Early in infection (week 2), the lack of NO production results in lower fungal loads but at a late period (week 10), an increased pulmonary fungal burden was observed. The bars represent means ± SEM of log₁₀ CFU obtained from groups of six to eight mice. The results are representative of three experiments with equivalent results. (C, D) Levels of type 1 and type 2 cytokines in lungs homogenates of iNOS^−/− and WT mice (n = 6–8). At the 2^nd (C) and 10^th (D) weeks after i.t. infection, lungs from iNOS^−/− and WT mice were collected and disrupted in 5.0 mL of PBS and supernatants were analyzed for cytokines content by capture ELISA. The bars depict means ± SEM of cytokine levels (6–8 animals per group). * (<i>P</i><0.05) and *** (<i>P</i><0.001) compared with WT controls.