Cell reactions in the lungs of patients with chronic respiratory diseases exacerbations

Abstract

A comparative cytological examination of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) has been performed in 93 patients with exacerbations of chronic specific and nonspecific lung diseases. We evaluated BALF cell contents, spontaneous and prodigiozan-stimulated NBT reduction due to the alveolar macrophages activity. We also analyzed a correlation between NBT-test results and neutrophil, lymphocyte and eosinophil amounts. It was found that there were twice less cells in BALF from tuberculosis patients compared with those of chronic nonspecific lung diseases patients. In patients with nonspecific lung parenchyma lesion one third of alveolar macrophage population reduced NBT, but additional stimulation with prodigiozan activated almost all the cells. In infiltrative tuberculosis patients the alveolar macrophages were not sensitive to an additional stimulus. A positive correlation was found between the functional activity of the alveolar macrophages and the amount of different types of BALF leucocytes. The alveolar macrophages’ ability to produce oxygen reactive metabolites caused the neutrophiles accumulation in airways of chronic bronchitis and fibrocavernous tuberculosis patients. A positive correlation between NBT-test results and lymphocytes amount was found in nonspecific chronic lung diseases patients but not in tuberculosis ones.