Zymosan priming protects rats against pulmonary oxygen toxicity.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether zymosan priming protects rats against oxygen toxicity.


METHODS
37 rats were used with 6 treatment groups. 11 received zymosan priming (3 daily i. v. injections with 15 mg zymosan and 2 days rest) before 52 h exposure to either normobaric hyperoxia (ZP group, 5 rats) or air (ZPA group, 6 rats)]. Two other groups received saline (Saline group, 9 rats) or zymosan by i. p. injection (Zip group, 6 rats) before hyperoxia. A fifth group received a non-priming (NP) treatment with zymosan before hyperoxia (ZNP group, 6 rats, single i. v. injection) and a final group received no treatment (Air group, 5 rats). Pleural effusions and lung injury were then assessed.


RESULTS
Saline, Zip or ZNP rats developed massive, proteinaceous pleural effusions indicative of oxygen toxicity while ZP rats did not (0.02 +/- 0.01 ml). The ratios of effusion protein to plasma protein concentration and wet/dry lung weight were also significantly reduced in ZP rats following hyperoxia.


CONCLUSIONS
Zymosan priming protects rats against pulmonary oxygen toxicity.
Berg
J T
JT
Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. johnberg@hawaii.edu
D000818:Animals; D018496:Hyperoxia; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism; D010100:Oxygen; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015054:Zymosan / Q000378:metabolism
D015054:Zymosan; D010100:Oxygen