The Proinflammatory Activity of Structurally Altered Elastic Fibers.

The Proinflammatory Activity of Structurally Altered Elastic Fibers. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2020 Aug 13;: Authors: Mehraban S, Gu G, Ma S, Liu X, Turino G, Cantor J Abstract The mechanisms responsible for the increased loss of pulmonary function following acute lung inflammation in COPD remain poorly understood. To investigate this process, our laboratory developed a hamster model that employs a single intratracheal (IT) instillation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to superimpose an inflammatory response on lungs treated with IT elastase one week earlier. Parameters measured at 2 days post-LPS included total leukocyte content and percent neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and BALF levels of both total and peptide-free elastin-specific crosslinks, desmosine and isodesmosine (DID). Airspace enlargement, measured by the mean linear intercept (MLI) method, and relative interstitial elastic fiber surface area were determined at 1 week post-LPS. Compared to animals only treated with elastase, those receiving elastase/LPS showed statistically significant increases in MLI (156.2 vs 85.5 µm), BALF leukocytes (187 vs 37.3 x 104 cells), neutrophils (39 vs 3.4 percent), and free DID (182 vs 97 percent of controls), which exceeded the sum of the individual effects of the two agents. Despite increased elastin breakdown, the elastase/LPS group had significantly greater elastic fiber surface area than controls (49 vs 26 percent) du...
Source: American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol Source Type: research