[Serum nitric oxide level in the assessment of systemic inflammation in patients with drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis].

Two hundred and forty-three patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis were examined. Their sera were tested for the level of stable nitric oxide (NO) metabolites, by using the Griess reagent after previous reduction of nitrates to nitrites by a copper-impregnated cadmium reducer. The frank active pulmonary tuberculosis was ascertained to follow the lower serum levels of NO metabolites. The serum NO level did not correlate with inflammatory markers, but reduced when the process was recurrent or chronic. By taking into account the role of NO in the performance of the body's different systems, its serum reduction in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis should be probably referred to as the manifestations of metabolic decompensation as the suppressed endothelial NOS activity that determines the level of NO in circulation.