Lehnert B E, Sanz-Rodriguez C
Pulmonary Biology - Toxicology Section, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico 87545.
Immunol Invest. 1988 May;17(3):225-36. doi: 10.3109/08820138809052962.
Macrophages in the conducting airways of the lower respiratory tract constitute an anatomically defineable subpopulation of pulmonary macrophages. Little information regarding the functional characteristics of the airway intra-luminal macrophages (AI-LM) is currently available. In this study, the AI-LM resident in the trachea and mainstem bronchi of the rat were harvested by an airway lavage technique and the ability of the AI-LM to phagocytize by Fc gamma-receptors was evaluated relative to the phagocytic activities of alveolar macrophages (AM) obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage. More than 60% of the AI-LM phagocytized sheep erythrocytes opsonized with IgG (SRBC-IgG) and the distributions of the engulfed SRBC-IgG in the phagocytic AI-LM were virtually identical to those in AM. The AI-LM may represent AM that have been translocated from the alveolar space compartment to the conducting airways; it remains possible, however, that at least some of the AI-LM may have an airway origin. Regardless, the results of our phagocytic studies suggest AI-LM may functionally provide a protective phagocytic role in the conducting airways.
下呼吸道传导气道中的巨噬细胞构成了肺巨噬细胞中一个在解剖学上可明确界定的亚群。目前关于气道腔内巨噬细胞（AI-LM）功能特性的信息很少。在本研究中，通过气道灌洗技术收集大鼠气管和主支气管中的AI-LM，并相对于通过支气管肺泡灌洗获得的肺泡巨噬细胞（AM）的吞噬活性，评估AI-LM通过Fcγ受体进行吞噬的能力。超过60%的AI-LM吞噬了用IgG调理的绵羊红细胞（SRBC-IgG），并且吞噬的SRBC-IgG在吞噬性AI-LM中的分布与在AM中的分布几乎相同。AI-LM可能代表已从肺泡腔室转移到传导气道的AM；然而，至少一些AI-LM仍有可能起源于气道。无论如何，我们的吞噬研究结果表明，AI-LM可能在传导气道中发挥功能性的保护性吞噬作用。
