title: Effects of ageing and smoking on SP-A and SP-D levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.
abstract: Surfactant protein (SP)-A and SP-D are collagen-like glycoproteins that are synthesised in the distal pulmonary epithelium. This study examined the effects of ageing and long-term smoking on SP-A and SP-D in the lungs. The possible links to the development of pulmonary emphysema were also investigated. Sequential lavage was performed in young and middle-aged or elderly nonsmokers and asymptomatic current smokers with various smoking histories. Middle-aged or elderly smokers were further categorised according to the presence of emphysema by high-resolution computed tomography. Levels of SP-A and SP-D in bronchial lavage (BL) fluid and in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid were quantified by ELISA. Significant decreases in SP-A were seen with age in nonsmokers in BL fluid, but not in BAL fluid. Middle-aged or elderly smokers with emphysema had lower levels of SP-A in both BL and BAL fluids when compared with young subjects, and in BL fluid when compared with middle-aged or elderly smokers without emphysema. SP-D did not change with age alone, however, it was decreased in middle-aged or elderly smokers when compared with similarly aged nonsmokers. In conclusion, surfactant protein-A may decrease with age alone or due to the cumulative effects of long-term smoking and development of emphysema, while surfactant protein-D decreases due to long-term smoking.
authors.affiliation: First Dept of Medicine, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan. bytomoko@med.hokudai.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Betsuyaku
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuroki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nasuhara
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishimura
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D037662:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A / Q000378:metabolism*; D037663:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein D / Q000378:metabolism*; D012907:Smoking / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D037662:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A; D037663:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein D