title: The macrophagic activity of patients affected by pneumonia or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
abstract: The function of alveolar macrophages (AMS) in patients with pneumonia (n = 7) (Group A) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (n = 11) (Group B) was investigated by evaluating the rate of phagocytosis and of the intracellular killing. A control group of healthy subjects (n = 8) was also included. Phagocytosis frequency (PHF), phagocytosis index (PHI) and intracellular killing towards Candida albicans were then evaluated. PHF and PHI were found to be significantly (p < 0.05) lower in Group B patients than in the control group, while intracellular killing showed a behaviour similar to controls. PHF and PHI values observed in the patients of Group A and in the control group did not show any significant difference; the intracellular killing rate proved on the contrary to be significantly (p < 0.05) lower than that observed in the controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Chemotherapy and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrara
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: D'Adda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falchi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dall'Asta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000276:immunology*; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000276:immunology*; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000276:immunology*