Pulmonary edema fluid antioxidants are depressed in acute lung injury.
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that low concentrations of distal airspace water-soluble antioxidants are associated with acute lung injury.


METHODS
Prospective, cohort study.


METHODS
Medical intensive care unit of two tertiary care hospitals.


METHODS
Subjects were 29 patients with acute lung injury and 23 normal, healthy, volunteers.


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
Pulmonary edema fluid from subjects with acute lung injury was aspirated immediately after intubation. Compared with the bronchoalveolar lavage from normal subjects (corrected for dilution using urea concentrations), undiluted edema fluid from acute lung injury subjects had significantly lower concentrations of the antioxidants urate (757 +/- 232 microM vs. 328 +/- 75 microM), glutathione (138 +/- 25 microM vs. 7 +/- 4 microM), and ascorbate (85 +/- 21 microM vs. 27 +/- 10 microM).


CONCLUSIONS
Acute lung injury is associated with decreased concentrations of water-soluble antioxidants in the distal airspaces. In acute lung injury, the distal airspace antioxidants ascorbate, urate, and glutathione may play a role in attenuating lung injury.
D000328:Adult; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000032:analysis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011654:Pulmonary Edema / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000032:analysis*; D012016:Reference Values; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D000975:Antioxidants; D015415:Biomarkers; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species