COMPARISON OF THE PHAGOCYTIC FUNCTION OF SHEEP ALVEOLAR MACROPHAGES HARVESTED FROM HEALTHY OR PNEUMONIC LUNGS

The lesions of pulmonary parenchyma in ovine species appear to evolve rapidly in spite of the fact that many defense mechanisms exist in the lung, The purpose of this study was to evaluate the phagocytic capaci ty of alveolar macrophages issued from pneumonic sheeps compared to ph agocytic activity of alveolar macrophages issued from healty sheep. Pu lmonary macrophages were collected by bronchoalveolar lavage and separ ated on Percoll(R) density gradient (Pharmacia), Phagocytic activity w as evaluated by use fluoresceine labelled and opsonized yeast particle s, After incubation, the phagocytic cells were counted and the number of ingested particles per cell was determined. The results showed a si gnificant difference between the number of phagocytic alveolar macroph ages between and pneumonic sheep (96% and 77% respectively), In contra st, between the alveolar macrophages of both healty and pneumonic lung s, there is not significant difference in the number of ingested parti cles per cell.