The kinetics of macrophage and surfactant replacement in hamster lung following bronchopulmonary lavage

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Abstract
The effects of bronchopulmonary lavage with isotonic NaCl were investigated in the hamster, and methods were described for separating pulmonary surfactant from cells in lavage fluid and for the quantitative isolation of surfactant from lung. Hamsters almost invariably survived a lavage of 10 successive washes each of 2 ml saline. This procedure removed about 80% of the total surfactant originally present and the surfactant content of the lung was restored to normal within 24 h. The same procedure removed at most only about 25% of the total number of macrophages in the lung and although a 2nd lavage performed immediately after the 1st removed large numbers of macrophages, if a delay of several hours elapsed between the 2 lavages, the yield of macrophages was greatly reduced. The reasons for this behavior are not understood, and it is apparently 1 of the factors limiting the frequency with which pulmonary lavage can be repeated.