Chronic pneumonia with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and impaired alveolar fluid clearance.
BACKGROUND
While the functional consequences of acute pulmonary infections are widely documented, few studies focused on chronic pneumonia. We evaluated the consequences of chronic Pseudomonas lung infection on alveolar function.


METHODS
P. aeruginosa, included in agar beads, was instilled intratracheally in Sprague Dawley rats. Analysis was performed from day 2 to 21, a control group received only sterile agar beads. Alveolar-capillary barrier permeability, lung liquid clearance (LLC) and distal alveolar fluid clearance (DAFC) were measured using a vascular (131I-Albumin) and an alveolar tracer (125I-Albumin).


RESULTS
The increase in permeability and LLC peaked on the second day, to return to baseline on the fifth. DAFC increased independently of TNF-alpha or endogenous catecholamine production. Despite the persistence of the pathogen within the alveoli, DAFC returned to baseline on the 5th day. Stimulation with terbutaline failed to increase DAFC. Eradication of the pathogen with ceftazidime did not restore DAFC response.


CONCLUSIONS
From these results, we observe an adequate initial alveolar response to increased permeability with an increase of DAFC. However, DAFC increase does not persist after the 5th day and remains unresponsive to stimulation. This impairment of DAFC may partly explain the higher susceptibility of chronically infected patients to subsequent lung injury.
Boyer
Sophie
S
Laboratoire de recherche en Pathologie Infectieuse, EA 2689. Faculté de Médecine de Lille, 59031 Lille Cedex, France. boyer.s@voila.fr
Faure
Karine
K
Ader
Florence
F
Husson
Marie Odile
MO
Kipnis
Eric
E
Prangere
Thierry
T
Leroy
Xavier
X
Guery
Benoit P
BP
D000818:Animals; D001693:Biological Transport, Active; D045604:Extracellular Fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*