Effects of hyperoxia on alveolar permeability of neutropenic rabbits

MJ Laughlin, L Wild, PA Nickerson… - Journal of Applied …, 1986 - journals.physiology.org
MJ Laughlin, L Wild, PA Nickerson, S Matalon
Journal of Applied Physiology, 1986journals.physiology.org
We investigated whether neutrophil suppression would prevent the early hyperoxic injury to
the rabbit alveolar epithelium. Rabbits received a single intravenous injection of either
nitrogen mustard (2 mg/kg) or saline and were exposed to 100% C2 for 64 h. At the end of
the hyperoxic exposure, there were 20+/-7 neutrophils/ml blood in the nitrogen mustard
group vs. 5,935+/-1,174 in the control group (means+/-SE; P less than 0.05). The
corresponding numbers in lung extravascular tissue, expressed per high-power field, were …
We investigated whether neutrophil suppression would prevent the early hyperoxic injury to the rabbit alveolar epithelium. Rabbits received a single intravenous injection of either nitrogen mustard (2 mg/kg) or saline and were exposed to 100% C2 for 64 h. At the end of the hyperoxic exposure, there were 20 +/- 7 neutrophils/ml blood in the nitrogen mustard group vs. 5,935 +/- 1,174 in the control group (means +/- SE; P less than 0.05). The corresponding numbers in lung extravascular tissue, expressed per high-power field, were 0.37 +/- 7 and 5.9 +/- 0.35, respectively (P less than 0.05). At this time, the rate constants of solute flux for 57Co-vitamin B12 (r = 6.5 A) and 131I-cytochrome c (r = 17 A), across the alveolar epithelium, were 33 +/- 5 (min-1) and 7 +/- 2 for the nitrogen mustard and 29 +/- 5 and 6 +/- 1 for the saline group, respectively. These variables were ninefold higher than their corresponding values in animals breathing air. We concluded that neutrophils do not play a significant role during the early stages of sublethal hyperoxic injury to rabbit alveolar epithelium.
American Physiological Society