Experimental ex vivo lung perfusion with sevoflurane: effects on damaged donor lung grafts.

Objectives: Volatile anaesthetics can provide significant protection against reperfusion injury in various experimental settings. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of sevoflurane treatment, the most commonly used volatile anaesthetic in modern anaesthesia, in rat lungs donated after circulatory death and reconditioned in an ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) system.

Methods: Fifteen rats were sacrificed and divided into 3 groups.

Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate administered during ex-vivo lung perfusion promotes rehabilitation of injured donor rat lungs obtained after prolonged warm ischemia.

Damaged lung grafts obtained after circulatory death (DCD lungs) and warm ischemia may be at high risk of reperfusion injury after transplantation. Such lungs could be pharmacologically reconditioned using ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP). Since acute inflammation related to the activation of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-κB) is instrumental in lung reperfusion injury, we hypothesized that DCD lungs might be treated during EVLP by pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), an inhibitor of NF-κB.

Virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis affects interleukin-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and interleukin-10 production by human mononuclear phagocytes.

Microbial virulence and cytokine-mediated immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection are important determinants of the pathogenesis of human tuberculosis. To determine the interrelationship between mycobacterial virulence and cytokine induction, human monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages were infected with attenuated (H37Ra) and virulent (H37Rv and CH306) strains of M. tuberculosis and the amount of proinflammatory [interleukin (IL)-8 and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)- 1] and inhibitory (IL- 10) cytokines was measured in the culture supernatants by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Diazepam-binding inhibitor-derived peptides induce intracellular calcium changes and modulate human neutrophil function.

We studied the effects of two diazepam-binding inhibitor (DBI)-derived peptides, triakontatetraneuropeptide (DBI 17-50, TTN) and eiksoneuropeptide (DBI 51-70, ENP), on cytosolic free Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]i), chemotaxis, superoxide anion (O2-) generation, and phagocytosis in human neutrophils. Both TTN and ENP induced a rapid and transient rise of [Ca2+]i. The effect of TTN depended on the presence of extracellular Ca2+, whereas the effect of ENP also persisted after extracellular Ca2+ chelation.

Mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan affects human polymorphonuclear and mononuclear phagocyte functions differently.

Background And Objective: The role of mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan (LAM) in regulating the granulomatous response and its effects on cells involved in early responses to tuberculosis have not been clearly defined. The aim of this study was to acquire further evidence about the mechanisms by which LAM takes part in the host response to mycobacterial infections.

Design And Methods: We compared the in vitro ability of mannosylated LAM (ManLAM) and LAM lacking the terminal mannosyl units (AraLAM) to induce distinct responses in human polymorphonuclear (PMNs) and mononuclear phagocytes [both monocytes and 48-hr monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs)].