Influence of acute pulmonary interstitial inflammation on kinetics of phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages.

The pulmonary alveolar macrophage (PAM) is central to lung cellular defenses and is a potential participant in lung injury, but little is known about the influence of the nature and anatomic pattern of acute lung injury on PAM function. To assess the relationship between ongoing pulmonary inflammation and PAM function, we evaluated PAM phagocytic kinetics in a model system of experimental interstitial adjuvant pneumonitis (EIAP) in calves. PAMs were obtained from lung one and seven days postinduction (dpi) of EIAP. Lesions were typical of EIAP, characterized by acute multifocal to coalescing exudative interstitial pneumonitis at 1 dpi, which progressed to granulomatous interstitial pneumonitis by 7 dpi. The total recoverable lung cells and percentage of neutrophils (PMNs) were elevated (P less than 0.01) from animals with EIAP at both 1 and 7 dpi, and there was a four-fold increase (P less than 0.01) in the PAM yield by 7 dpi. Linear regression equations revealed that a larger proportion of control PAMs were phagocytic than were PAMs from animals with EIAP. The mean initial phagocytic rates of PAM following acute lung injury were significantly elevated (P less than 0.05) over controls; this difference was concentration dependent and required a phagocytic bead stimulus concentration in excess of 12.5 x 10(6) beads/ml. PAMs from animals with EIAP had a greater maximum rate of phagocytosis (Vmax) and Km than control PAMs. PAMs from animals with EIAP had a slightly higher proportion of cells which phagocytosed multiple beads. Levels of beta-glucuronidase were elevated (P less than 0.02) in PAM from animals with EIAP at 7 dpi. The results document enhanced PAM phagocytic function in EIAP and differ from our previous experiments in which depressed PAM phagocytic indices were obtained in a model of virus-induced acute bronchiolitis and alveolitis. The functional activities of the PAMs thus appear to be modified by injury-specific events in the lung microenvironment which may, in part, reflect the nature and anatomic pattern of developing pulmonary inflammatory reactions.