Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 151, No. 5, May 1995, 1576-1581.
A morphologic study of lung secretory leukoprotease inhibitor in pneumonia
S Asano, K Kida, T Koyama, H Wada, Y Izawa, K Hosoda, K Masuda and Y Suzuki
Teijin Institute for Biomedical Research, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital, Japan.
The present study was undertaken to determine the localization of cells
laden with secretory leukoprotease inhibitor (SLPI) in
bronchial/bronchiolar epithelium (B/Br-E) by histochemical techniques to
see whether SLPI production occurs in conjunction with pathologic
bronchopneumonia. Ten lung were obtained at autopsy from patients between
63 and 100 yr of age, including six with pathologic pneumonia and four
without pneumonia. SLPI-laden cells in the B/Br-E corresponded mostly to
goblet cells with apparent hyperplasia. A morphometric study performed on
the B/Br-E indicated that the percentage of SLPI-laden cells was
significantly correlated with the percentage of mucus- containing cells (r
= 0.72, p < 0.001). This trend was similar in the bronchi (r = 0.60, p
< 0.05) and in the bronchioles (r = 0.90, p < 0.01). The increased
percentage of mucus and SLPI-laden cells in the B/Br-E was closely
correlated with acute inflammatory changes in the adjacent alveoli,
particularly in bronchi rather than in bronchioles. From these observations
we conclude that the number of SLPI-laden cells in the airways increases in
correlation with goblet cell hyperplasia. In addition, these morphologic
changes are associated with the existence of acute inflammatory cell
infiltration in the alveolar area.
