title: Cleaved caspase-3 in lung epithelium of children who died with acute respiratory distress syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the extent of cleaved caspase-3 immunostaining in lung epithelial cells in children with acute respiratory distress syndrome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational study in sixteen children who died with acute respiratory distress syndrome and diffuse alveolar damage.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pediatric intensive care unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen children with fatal acute respiratory distress syndrome and diffuse alveolar damage.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Double immunohistochemistry for cleaved caspase-3 and (pan)cytokeratin in lung tissues obtained at autopsy. Spectral imaging was used for the quantification of immunohistochemistry colocalization of these markers. We found a wide range in the percentage of alveolar epithelial cell surface area with positive cleaved caspase-3 staining in the lungs of children with acute respiratory distress syndrome (from 1% to almost 20%). The degree of caspase-3 immunostaining in epithelial cells positively correlated with age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a high variability in the extent of classic apoptosis in lung epithelial cells in pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome, potentially in part dependent on age.
authors.affiliation: From the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam, Netherlands. r.a.bem@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: Reinout A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bem
authors.forename: Chris M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: van der Loos
authors.forename: Job B M
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: van Woensel
authors.forename: Albert P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Bos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017209:Apoptosis; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D008168:Lung / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D053148:Caspase 3