NF-kappaB in the lungs of premature rabbits during mechanical ventilation--comparison between conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) and high-frequency oscillation (HFO).

The purpose of this study is to compare pulmonary nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activity of conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) with that of high-frequency oscillation (HFO) in premature rabbit lungs. For surfactant-depleted model, we used premature rabbits in order to exclude the effect of lung lavage on the activation of NF-kappaB. The premature rabbits were delivered at a gestational age of 27 days by hysterotomy. Both modes of the ventilator were set at the same MAP and FiO(2). We used animals that had PCO(2) levels of approximately 50-mmHg. Animals were sacrificed after 1-hr ventilation with CMV or HFO. Then activity of pulmonary NF-kappaB was assessed. We observed that NF-kappaB activity was higher in the lungs of CMV compared with those of HFO, as measured by Western blot analysis. The activity level of NF-kappaB in the lungs measured by ELISA was significantly higher in CMV group than in HFO group. We conclude that a higher level of NF-kappaB activation was associated with CMV when compared to HFO.