Gp. Pessina et al., PULMONARY CATABOLISM OF INTERLEUKIN-6 EVALUATED BY LUNG PERFUSION OF NORMAL AND SMOKER RATS, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 48(10), 1996, pp. 1063-1067
Cytokines such as interleukin 6 are involved in the pulmonary inflamma
tion arising as a result of smoking. By use of isolated and perfused l
ung preparations we have evaluated the role of the lungs in the catabo
lism of human recombinant interleukin 6 both in normal rats and in rat
s subjected to an acute cigarette smoking episode. When interleukin 6
was incorporated into the lung perfusion medium, neither control nor s
moke-exposed rat lungs cleared the cytokine and only 0 . 1 +/- 0 . 2%
of the total dose was recovered in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. W
hen, on the other hand, the same amount of interleukin 6 was instilled
into the bronchoalveolar tree, concentrations of the cytokine in the
perfusate increased progressively so that after 3 h up to 70 . 1 +/- 9
. 8% and 40 . 9 +/- 22 . 5% of the administered dose, as measured by
immunoenzymatic test, had been transferred from the bronchial lumen to
the perfusion medium of either control or smoker rat lungs, respectiv
ely, indicating significantly (P less than or equal to 0 . 05) differe
nt behaviour of the cytokine in the two experimental groups. Total rec
overies of the administered interleukin 6 evaluated in smoke-exposed r
at lungs were 55 . 3 +/- 23 . 2%, significantly lower than those for c
ontrol rat lungs (83 . 9 +/- 11%). Determination of biological activit
y gave values always lower than those measured by immunoenzymatic test
, indicating loss of biological activity during the transalveolar tran
sit. It appears that the transfer of interleukin 6, especially in smok
ers, is almost exclusively unidirectional, from the alveolar space to
the plasmatic pool with degradation during the transalveolar passage.