Bombesin-like peptides (BLP) produced by pulmonary neuroendocrine cells have many physiological actions which are relevant to the pathobiology of cigarette smoking. The objectives of this study were to deter mine whether cigarette smokers excrete increased levels of BLP in their urine compared with nonsmokers, to determine the relationship between BLP levels in urine and bronchoalveolar lavage ...

BACKGROUND The role of anti-granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) antibodies as a diagnostic marker in idiopathic pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (iPAP) remains unclear. METHODS Anti-GM-CSF antibodies were detected in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) fluid in 13 patients with iPAP. Three patients with secondary PAP, 35 with other pulmonary disorders, and 10 subj...

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is characterized by accumulation of large quantities of lipoproteinaceous materials in alveoli. Surfactant protein A (SP-A) is the predominant phospholipid-associated glycoprotein in pulmonary surfactant and is specific to the lung. The contents of SP-A in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids of patients with PAP were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorb...

Background: Epithelial lining fluid plays a critical role in protecting the lung from oxidative stress, in which the oxidised status may change by ageing, smoking history, and pulmonary emphysema. Methods: Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed on 109 young and older subjects with various smoking histories. The protein carbonyls, total and oxidised glutathione were examined in BAL fluid. Re...

Previous studies have suggested that immunologic mechanisms may contribute to pathogeneic reactions in certain interstitial lung diseases. Cytolytic lymphocytes are major effector cells of the immune response that have not been extensively studied in these disorders. To investigate the role of activated cytolytic lymphocytes in IPF, we studied B-cell and monocyte/macrophage-depleted lymphocyte ...

BACKGROUND Epithelial lining fluid plays a critical role in protecting the lung from oxidative stress, in which the oxidised status may change by ageing, smoking history, and pulmonary emphysema. METHODS Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed on 109 young and older subjects with various smoking histories. The protein carbonyls, total and oxidised glutathione were examined in BAL fluid. ...

Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by pulmonary edema and acute inflammation leading to pulmonary dysfunction and potentially death. Early medical intervention may ameliorate the severity of ALI, but unfortunately, there are no reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis. We screened for biomarkers in a mouse model of ALI. In this model, inhalation of S. aureus enterotoxin A causes increased ...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the relation between bronchoalveolar and blood eosinophil numbers, serum total IgE concentration, and nonspecific airway reactivity in healthy dogs. ANIMALS 26 healthy Beagles. PROCEDURE Prior to measurement of nonspecific airway responsiveness, dogs were anesthetized and bronchoscopy was performed to recover bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. Repeated measurement...

BACKGROUND The relationship between cell types in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and the clinical course of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been the subject of several studies. However, the results of these studies are not conclusive. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the absolute and relative cell numbers in BAL fluid from patients with...

BACKGROUND The specific cellular immunological characteristics of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid in acute pulmonary coccidioidomycosis have not been defined. METHODS BAL fluid from patients living in a coccidioidomycosis-endemic region of Arizona who were undergoing bronchoscopy because of pulmonary infiltrates was analyzed. Mononuclear cells from BAL fluid and peripheral blood mononuclea...