BN 52021 decreases alveolar macrophage-mediated lung injury in experimental extrinsic allergic alveolitis.

EDITOR – We re ad w ith great inte re st the publication from Pé re z-Arellano and colle ague s. The aim of this study w as to evaluate the partic ipation of PAF in ex trinsic allergic alveolitis. We w ould like to bring to your attention the fac t that w e published a s imilar study a few years ago. Both studies show striking methodological similarities, namely the use of the same antigen to induce EAA and the same PAF antagonist. However, w e reported a decreased total BAL cell counts in BN 52021 treated animals in contrast to the results as de scribed by Pé rez-Arellano e t a l. We acknow ledge that they looked at more parameters than w e did, but it w ould have been fair just to mention our previous publication in the introduction and discuss discrepanc ies betw een their and our results. Considering the easy access to published materials w ith database s such as PubMed, w e question if such an omission w as intentional, espec ially w hen both studie s reach a s imilar conclusion.