BACKGROUND The principal site for elimination of propofol is the liver. The clearance of propofol exceeds hepatic blood flow; therefore, extrahepatic clearance is thought to contribute to its elimination. This study examined the pulmonary kinetics of propofol using part of an indocyanine green (ICG) recirculatory model. METHODS Ten sheep, immobilized in a hammock, received injections of propo...

In contrast to short-lived neutrophils, macrophages display persistent presence in the lung of animals after pulmonary exposure to carbon nanotubes. While effective in the clearance of bacterial pathogens and injured host cells, the ability of macrophages to "digest" carbonaceous nanoparticles has not been documented. Here, we used chemical, biochemical, and cell and animal models and demonstra...

Stroke-induced immunosuppression contributes to the development of stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP). Experiments in mice demonstrated that apoptosis IFN-γ producing cells and reduced secretion resulted impaired immune responses after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). In present study, we investigated efficacy intratracheal treatment prevent SAP modest benefits on pulmonary cytokine resp...

Studies of the pathogenesis of cystic fibrosis (CF) and primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), as well as novel genetic mouse models, vividly illustrate that effective “mucus clearance” is a critical innate airway defense mechanism. Modern physics, physical chemistry, biochemistry, and cell and systems biology are revealing the structure of the mucus clearance apparatus and elucidating key parameter...

The active absorption of fluid from the airspaces of the lung is important for the resolution of clinical pulmonary edema. Although ENaC channels provide a major route for Na(+) absorption, the route of Cl(-) transport has been unclear. We applied a series of complementary approaches to define the role of Cl(-) transport in fluid clearance in the distal airspaces of the intact mouse lung, using...

BACKGROUND Therapeutic strategies to modulate the host response to bacterial pneumonia are needed to improve outcomes during community-acquired pneumonia. This study used mice with impaired Fas signalling to examine susceptibility to pneumococcal pneumonia and decoy receptor 3 analogue (DcR3-a) to correct factors associated with increased susceptibility. METHODS Wild-type mice and those with ...

Pulmonary oedema is a life-threatening condition that frequently leads to acute respiratory failure. From a physiological perspective, pulmonary oedema develops either because of an increase in lung vascular hydrostatic pressure or an increase in lung vascular permeability. Resolution of alveolar oedema depends on the active removal of salt and water from the distal air spaces of the lung acros...

Measurement of pulmonary clearance of an inhaled aerosol of technetium-99m labelled diethylenetriaminepenta-acetate (DTPA) by external detection methods has been used widely as an index of permeability across alveolar epithelium and bronchial mucosa. To determine the applicability of the tracer to measurement of permeability in the airways the diffusion and binding characteristics of 99mTc DTPA...

A 26-kDa protein (OMP26) isolated and purified from nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) strain 289 has been shown to enhance clearance of infection following pulmonary challenge with NTHI in rats. DNA sequence analysis revealed that it was 99% identical to a gene encoding a cell envelope protein of the H. influenzae Rd strain (TIGR accession no. HI0916). The deduced amino acid sequence re...

This study evaluated the utility of the clearance time of inhaled diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (DTPA) to distinguish pulmonary vascular disease from early fibrosing alveolitis (FA) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). It was hypothesized that this would be preserved in patients with vascular disease compared with FA, despite similar gas-transfer deficits and matching lung volumes, beca...