The prevention of fatalities in cycloheximide challenged mice pretreated with a submicrogram dose of lipopolysaccharide or with a small volume of cell-free Ehrlich ascites tumour fluid.
OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: Therapeutic strategies were employed to better understand the pathogenesis of fatal cycloheximide (CX) intolerance in mice pretreated with a submicrogram dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or with a small volume of cell-free Ehrlich ascites tumour fluid (EAF). MATERIALS AND SUBJECTS: Inbred, male CBA-strain mice. METHODS: Aminoguanidine (AMG), a selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was used to determine the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the fatalities. Dexamethasone (DEX) or nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) were used to assess possible involvement of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) in sensitisation to CX. RESULTS: AMG protected CX challenged mice pretreated with LPS or with EAF. DEX, but not NDGA, protected the former animals; both DEX and NDGA protected the latter. CONCLUSION: AMG protection indicates the essential role of iNOS in CX-precipitated fatalities. It is suggested that the pretreatments either directly or indirectly place iNOS expression under control of a labile protein repressor. In the case of EAF pretreated mice, a role for TNF could not be excluded, whereas in LPS pretreated animals TNF plays no part in sensitising to CX.