Volume-controlled Bronchopulmonary Lavage of Normal and Pneumonic Calves

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Abstract
Saline bronchopulmonary lavage of the right lung of 16 anesthetized calves was performed using a single-lumen cuffed endotracheal tube. The initial volume of saline introduced was based on the functional residual capacity (FRC) of the right lung lobes as determined from the proportional weights of the right (58% of total FRC) and left (42% of total FRC) lung lobes. Calves were divided into “pneumonic” and “normal” groups based on clinical signs. Five sequential washes were done on each calf. There was no difference in the percentage of total lavage fluid volume recoverable between normal (83.8 ± 4.2%) and pneumonic (81.1 ± 8.2%) calves. Cell yield in the initial wash was consistently greater than in subsequent washes for both normal (12.7 ± 6.6 × 106 cells/kg body weight) and pneumonic (58.1 ± 37.6 × 106 cells/kg body weight) calves, and constituted 62.0% (normal) and 75.4% (pneumonic) of the total recoverable cell yield. Total cell yields were higher ( P < 0.05) in pneumonic calves, primarily due to neutrophil leukocytes (PMN). Neutrophils constituted 53.7 ± 25% of the total cell yield in the pneumonic calves, but only 12.3 ± 9.5% in the normal calves. The pulmonary alveolar macrophage (PAM) was the major recoverable cell in normal calves (85.7 ± 8.7% of total lavage cells). Macrophages constituted a smaller (42.9 ±23.5) percentage of the total lavage cells in the pneumonic group due to increased PMN numbers. Viability of recovered cells from the pneumonic calves (91.5 ± 4.8%) was lower than for the normal calves (94.1 ± 2.5%), but the difference was not significant. Volume-controlled bronchopulmonary lavage proved to be a safe, simple technique producing an abundant yield of viable cells from both normal and pneumonic calves for in vitro study.