DIFFERING SUSCEPTIBILITY OF YOUNG AND ADULT HAMSTER LUNGS TO INJURY WITH PANCREATIC ELASTASE

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Abstract
To determine whether there are differences in the initial response of the lungs of young (28 days) and adult (105 days) hamsters to pancreatic elastase treatment, elastase was given intratracheally (0.1 mg/100 g body wt) and the animals were studied 24 h later. The mean linear intercept of the lungs of young animals increased less than that of adult animals (P < 0.05). Adult body weights decreased significantly with elastase treatment; those of young elastase-treated animals did not. The lungs of young animals gained proportionately less weight than those of adult animals, suggesting that they experienced less hemorrhage and edema. When the volumes, at given transpulmonary pressures, of fluid-filled lungs were expressed as percent predicted, the values for young animals were significantly less than those for adult animals. The most pronounced differences were at low transpulmonary pressures (1-3 cm H2O). Volume-pressure hysteresis was not altered by elastase treatment in young or adult animals. Lungs of adult hamsters are more susceptible to elastase injury than are lungs of young hamsters.