Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 149, No. 2, 02 1994, 455-459.
The motility of lung lymphocytes in hypersensitivity pneumonitis and sarcoidosis
M Ohtsuka, Y Yoshizawa, T Naitou, H Yano, T Sato and S Hasegawa
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Lymphocytes obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in hypersensitivity
pneumonitis (HP) and pulmonary sarcoidosis (PS) are believed to be derived
from interstitial inflammatory lesions of the lung in which lymphocytes
have migrated from the blood. Because cellular motility is one of the
important factors in lymphocyte migration, we investigated the motility of
BAL lymphocytes from 12 patients with HP and 12 with PS, as well as their
responsiveness to chemoattractants in vitro by modified Boyden chamber
method. Motility was evaluated by the number of migrated cells and the
migration distance. The numbers of migrated BAL lymphocytes from patients
with HP and PS in albumin-containing medium were 318.3 +/- 93.0 (mean +/-
SD) and 207.6 +/- 35.5, respectively, and were greater than those of BAL
lymphocytes from normal control subjects (133.3 +/- 40.9) and blood
lymphocytes, and comparable with those of mitogen-activated blood
lymphocytes. The motility of BAL lymphocytes in these diseases compared
with blood lymphocytes was also increased in protein-free medium. In
addition, the culture supernatants of alveolar macrophages (AM) enhanced
the motility of BAL, mitogen-activated, and blood lymphocytes. These
results suggest that BAL lymphocytes in these diseases are functionally
motile, and their enhanced motility, as well as mediators from AM, may
facilitate the accumulation of lymphocytes at the epithelial surface.
