Overexpression of Nitric Oxide and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase in Mucous Membrane of the Maxillary Sinus Fungus Ball
Abstract Objective: We aimed to explore the expression and interplay of NO and iNOS to elucidate their roles in human maxillary sinus mucosa with maxillary sinus fungus ball (MSFB) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS).Methods: Fifty-one patients with MSFB, CRS and simple maxillary sinus cyst were included in this study. The NO content of the mucosa of each group was detected by Nitric acid reductase method. The expression of iNOS was tested by immunohistochemistry and Western blott. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the expression of iNOS and the occurrence of MSFB and CRS.Results: The results showed that NO and iNOS were highly expressed in the maxillary sinus mucosa of MSFB group, which were significantly different from CRS and control group (P<0.01). The expressions of NO and iNOS in the samples of CRS group were higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Moreover, iNOS was widely presented in the cytoplasm of sinus mucosa epithelium and inflammatory cells in the maxillary sinus mucosa of MSFB patients. Furthermore, Spearman correlation coefficient indicated that the expression of iNOS was positively correlated with the incidence of MSFB (r=0.6395, P<0.05).Conclusion: NO and iNOS are overexpressed in the maxillary sinus mucosa of MSFB and CRS patients, and the increase in the MSFB patients was better than the CRS. The expressions of NO, iNOS were also correlated with the incidence of MSFB. We thus provide a new indicator to assist the diagnosis of MSFB and its distinction from CRS.