Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 67, Issue 4 1479-1488, Copyright © 1989 by American Physiological Society
A new method to evaluate extravascular albumin and blood cell accumulation in the lung
M. F. Bureau, E. Malanchere, M. Pretolani, M. A. Boukili and B. B. Vargaftig
Unite Associee Institut Pasteur-Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, U2852, Paris, France.
A method was developed to evaluate blood volume, accumulation of
extravascular albumin (ALBev), and platelet (PL) or polymorphonuclear
neutrophil (PMN) sequestration in lungs after challenge with inflammatory
agents. Erythrocytes (RBC), albumin, and PL or PMN, labeled with 99mTc,
131I, and 111In,-respectively, were injected intravenously into
anesthetized and ventilated guinea pigs. The different parameters were
calculated from in vivo lung and blood radioactivity values. When
N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (fMLP) was injected
intravenously at 10 micrograms.kg-1, lung RBC content dropped by 14.7 +/-
1.8% (SE; n = 10), indicating a reduced lung blood volume, ALBev rose to
15.0 +/- 3.2% of the initial albumin vascular content, and the circulating
PMN were sequestered by 9.2 +/- 1.7%. A transient PL sequestration was also
observed 1 min after the injection of fMLP (13.1 +/- 2.0%, n = 7). During
the infusion of 1-O-hexadecyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine, the
lung PL content rose dose dependently from 10.1 +/- 2.2% of the circulating
pool with 3 ng.kg-1.min-1 to 54.9 +/- 20.1% with 44 ng.kg-1.min-1, the lung
RBC content decreased by greater than 10%, and the ALBev increased beyond
16%. Our method allows the study of the correlations between cell
entrapment and the variations of the albumin exchanges in the lung and may
lead to a better understanding of the correlations between cell activation
and edema.
