Early Immune Response to Acute Gastric Fluid Aspiration in a Rat Model of Lung Transplantation.

Objectives: Chronic aspiration of gastric fluid contents can decrease long-term survival of pulmonary transplants due to development of obliterative bronchiolitis. However, little is known about the early immune response and the cascade of events involved in the development of obliterative bronchiolitis.

Materials And Methods: We utilized a rat orthotopic pulmonary transplant model and a single aspiration of either gastric fluid or normal saline to investigate the histologic, cellular, and cytokine changes associated with an acute gastric fluid aspiration event compared with normal saline at 2 and 10 days after aspiration.