[The 74th Annual Meeting President Lecture. Pathogenesis and therapy of acute lung injury].
Almost all of respiratory diseases except benign lung tumors and lung dysplasia entail acute lung injury (ALI). The many clinical conditions associated with acute lung injury include aspiration pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia and sepsis. Acute lung injury is the end results of common pathways initiated by a variety of local or systemic insults leading to diffuse damage to the pulmonary parenchyma. Despite the accumulation of abundant information regarding the physiological and cellular basis of lung injury and increasing sophisticated intensive care, an improvement in prognosis has lagged behind. It has become clear that there is not one mediator responsible for ALI, but rather a complex interplay exists between diverse proinflammatory (e.g., lipopolysaccharide, complement products, cytocains, chemocains, reactive oxygen species and arachidonic acid products) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10, IL-1-RA, PGI2) mediators. Early in the course of ALI, large numbers of neutrophils are sequestered in and emigrate from the pulmonary capillaries. The fundamental cause of ALI is pulmonary vascular hyperpermeability caused by the activated neutrophils which release oxygen radicals and proteases. In these processes several adhesion molecules play very important roles. Neutrophil elastase inhibitors become very useful therapeutic agents against acute exacerbation of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP), because this pathological conditions is a type of ALI. Similarly, N-acetyl cystein could also become a useful therapeutic agent against IIP, because it is a precursor of glutathione, which is the major antioxidant in the fluid lining of the bronchial epithelium.
Kitamura
S
S
School of Health and Social Services Department of Occupational Therapy, Saitama Prefectural University, Japan.
D005998:Glycine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D019272:Leukocyte Elastase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015842:Serine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013449:Sulfonamides / Q000627:therapeutic use
D015842:Serine Proteinase Inhibitors; D013449:Sulfonamides; C069195:sivelestat; D019272:Leukocyte Elastase; D005998:Glycine