Nitric oxide (NO) may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease and, hence, the aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans surface-associated material (SAM) stimulates inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity and NO production by the murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7. Cells were stimulated with untreated or heat-treated A. actinomycetemcomitans SAM and with or without pre-treatment with L-N(6)-(1-Iminoethyl)-lysine (L-NIL) (an iNOS inhibitor), polymyxin B, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and Interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-10, genistein [a protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitor], bisindolylmaleimide [a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor], bromophenacyl bromide (BPB) [a phospholipase A(2) (PLA2) inhibitor] or wortmannin [phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3K) inhibitor]. The iNOS activity and nitrite production in the cell cultures were determined. Untreated but not heat-treated A. actinomycetemcomitans SAM-stimulated both iNOS activity and nitrite production in RAW264.7 cells. L-NIL, IL-4, IL-10, genistein, bisindolylmaleimide, or BPB, suppressed but IFN-γ enhanced both iNOS activity and nitrite production by A. actinomycetemcomitans SAM-stimulated cells. Wortmannin and polymyxin B failed to alter both iNOS activity or nitrite production by A. actinomycetemcomitans SAM treated cells. Therefore, the present study suggests that a heat-sensitive protein constituent(s) of A. actinomycetemcomitans SAM stimulates both iNOS activity and nitrite production by RAW264.7 cells in a cytokine, PTK, PKC, and PLA(2) but not PI-3K-dependent fashion.
The aim of this study was to determine whether Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans lipopolysaccharide (LPS-A. actinomycetemcomitans) could stimulate a murine macrophage cell line (RAW264.7 cells) to produce nitric oxide (NO). The cells were treated with LPS-A. actinomycetemcomitans or Escherichia coli LPS (LPS-Ec) for 24 h. The effects of N(G)-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA), polymyxin B and cytokines (IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-4 and IL-12) on the production of NO were also determined. The role of protein tyrosine kinase, protein kinase C and microtubulin organization on NO production were assessed by incubating RAW264.7 cells with genistein, bisindolylmaleide and colchicine prior to LPS-A. actinomycetemcomitans stimulation, respectively. NO levels from the culture supernatants were determined by the Griess reaction. The results showed that LPS-A. actinomycetemcomitans stimulated NO production by RAW264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, but was slightly less potent than LPS-Ec. NMMA and polymyxin B blocked the production of NO. IFN-gamma and IL-12 potentiated but IL-4 depressed NO production by LPS-A. actinomycetemcomitans-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. TNF-alpha had no effects on NO production. Genistein and bisindolylmalemaide, but not colchicine, reduced the production of NO in a dose-dependent mechanism. The results of the present study suggest that A. actinomycetemcomitans LPS, via the activation of protein tyrosine kinase and protein kinase C and the regulatory control of cytokines, stimulates NO production by murine macrophages.