Soluble L-selectin concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid obtained from infants who develop chronic lung disease of prematurity
- aDepartment of Paediatrics, Hammersmith Hospital, London, bDepartment of Respiratory Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary’s Hospital, London, cDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Child Health, London
- Dr Sailesh Kotecha Department of Child Health University of Leicester Leicester LE2 7LX.
- Accepted 26 September 1997
Abstract
AIMS To explore the changes in neutrophil adhesion molecule expression and release into bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) obtained from infants who developed chronic lung disease (CLD).
METHODS BAL fluid was obtained from 37 infants: 18 (median gestation 26 weeks, birthweight 835 g) who developed CLD, 12 (29 weeks, 1345 g) with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and seven control infants (33 weeks, 2190 g).
RESULTS Soluble L-selectin (sL-selectin) in BAL fluid from the CLD and non-CLD groups was similar immediately after birth, but in infants who subsequently developed CLD, sL-selectin remained persistently increased (at day 7: CLD 42.6 vs RDS 6.0 ng/ml, p<0.05; CLD vs controls 1.5 ng/ml; p<0.05). CD11b/CD18 expression on neutrophils obtained by BAL increased with time to reach a maximum at 17 days of age in infants who developed CLD.
CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that leucocyte traffic persists in infants who develop CLD and may have an important part to play in the pathogenesis of CLD.
