[ effect of sex steroid hormones [17-beta estradiol and 5-a dihydretestosterone] on nitric oxide production by rat alveolar macrophages treaed with tgf-beta]

ABSTRACT

Introduction: It has been shown that gama-IFN is one of the major cytokines involved in lung fibrosis. It has also been demonstrated that Nitric Oxide [NO] may exert vasodilation, edema and cytotoxicity, and it may stimulate cytokinedependent processes in the lungs. In this study, the effect of 17-beta Estradiol [17-betaE2] and five alpha dihydrotestosterone [5alfa-DHT] on NO release by TGF beta treated alveolar macrophages was investigated