J. Hull et al., SURFACTANT COMPOSITION IN INFANTS AND YOUNG-CHILDREN WITH CYSTIC-FIBROSIS, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 156(1), 1997, pp. 161-165
Citations number
26
Categorie Soggetti
Emergency Medicine & Critical Care","Respiratory System
We tested the hypothesis that the composition of bronchial surfactant
is normal in infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) in the absence of activ
e lung disease but that it is altered by lower respiratory tract infec
tion and inflammation. We examined the total phospholipid (PL), disatu
rated phospholipid (DSP), surfactant protein-a (SP-A), surfactant prot
ein B (SP-B), and surface activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid fro
m 27 subjects with CF whose mean age was 22.7 (SD 14.5) mo. Six infant
s with strider served as non-CF controls. Twelve of the subjects with
CF (CF-I group) had evidence of active pulmonary infection or inflamma
tion which was absent in the remaining 15 subjects (CF-NI group). We f
ound no differences in the surfactant composition or activity between
controls and the CF-NI group. In contrast, the DSP/PL ratio was lower
in the CF-I subjects than in both the CF-NI subjects (p = 0.05) and co
ntrols (p < 0.01) suggesting a disturbance of surfactant function. SP-
A concentrations were higher in the CF-I group compared to the other t
wo groups (p < 0.05). These results suggest that the bronchial surfact
ant of infants with CF is altered following lower airway infection and
inflammation and is not a primary abnormality associated with this di
sorder.