Effect of surfactant and specific antibody on bacterial proliferation and lung function in experimental pneumococcal pneumonia.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of surfactant and specific antibody on bacterial proliferation in experimental pneumococcal pneumonia.


METHODS
Near-term newborn rabbits received a standard dose (10(7)) of type 3 pneumococci via the airways. Control animals were sacrificed 1 minute later. Other animals were ventilated for 5 hours and treated via the tracheal cannula with surfactant (Curosurf 200 mg/kg), a mixture of surfactant and a polyclonal antipneumococcal antibody, the antibody without surfactant, or saline.


RESULTS
There was a significant bacterial proliferation in lung tissue in all animals ventilated for 5 hours. Bacterial growth, expressed as log10 colony forming units (CFU) per gram of lung tissue was less prominent in animals treated with a mixture of surfactant and specific antibody than in animals treated with antibody alone (median, 7.51, range, 6.80--7.70 vs. median, 7.92, range, 7.07--8.50; P < 0.05). Dynamic lung-thorax compliance was improved with surfactant or surfactant plus antibody in comparison with saline or antibody alone.


CONCLUSIONS
The data suggest that the suppressive effect of the antibody on bacterial proliferation becomes evident only when surfactant is administered together with the antibody.
Gan
X
X
Division for Experimental Perinatal Pathology, Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Jarstrand
C
C
Herting
E
E
Berggren
P
P
Robertson
B
B
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D002404:Catheterization; D002452:Cell Count; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D004357:Drug Synergism; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008170:Lung Compliance / Q000187:drug effects; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D011817:Rabbits; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D015996:Survival Rate
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007106:Immune Sera; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants