Bronchoalveolar lavage in smokers: quantification of alveolar macrophages and neutrophils as markers of bronchial obstruction.
Increased concentrations of neutrophils and alveolar macrophages are recovered in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) of smokers compared with non-smokers. We designed a study to determine the relationship between neutrophils and alveolar macrophages recovered by BAL and the degree of air-flow obstruction, measured by spirometry (chronic air-flow obstruction was defined as: FEV1 < 80% of predicted and FEV1/FVC ratio < 70% of predicted) in healthy smokers. We found a significant correlation between spirometric values and the number of neutrophils and alveolar macrophages in BAL fluid obtained from healthy smokers. Our findings suggest that counts of 13-15x1000 neutrophils/ml and/or 430-450x1000 alveolar macrophages/ml in BAL fluid could be used as markers of air-flow obstruction in smokers.
Department of Pneumology, Hospital Princesa, Madrid, Spain. c.jimenez/princesa@hup.es
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Jimenez Ruiz
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Rajas
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Ruiz
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Ramos
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Florez
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Ramos
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Solano
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Fornies
D000328:Adult; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001980:Bronchi; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D002470:Cell Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000166:cytology*; D012907:Smoking; D013147:Spirometry