title: [Changes of alveolar macrophage phagocytosis and TNF-alpha, IL-6 of rats with Pneumocystis pneumonia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the changes of alveolar macrophage (AM) phagocytosis and the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in AM supernatants and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of rats with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP).
  
  
  METHODS
  Wistar rats were injected with dexamethasone intramuscularly and continually to establish the model of PCP, the AM phagocytosis and levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in AM supernatants and BALF of rats with PCP were detected, meanwhile, the normal controls were set.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The phagocyting percentage [(20.61 +/- 2.04)%] and phagocyting index (0.25 +/- 0.21) of the PCP group were significantly lower than those [(25.45 +/- 3.1)% and (0.31 +/- 0.16)] of the control group (P < 0.05), TNF-alpha (16.84 +/- 0.86) pg/ml and IL-6 (1.05 +/- 0.19) pg/ml in BALF of the PCP group were significantly higher than those [(12.48 +/- 0.84) pg/ml and (0.86 +/- 0.11) pg/ml] of the control group (P < 0.05), but there were no significant differences for the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in AM supernatants between the two groups (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AM phagocytosis reduces evidently of PCP rats, but the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in BALF rise evidently.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Min
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiu-Chang
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hong-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000276:immunology*; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011020:Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / Q000276:immunology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha