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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2003, p. 293-302, Vol. 10, No. 2
1071-412X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.10.2.293-302.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Correlation of Organism Burden and Alveolar Macrophage Counts during Infection with Pneumocystis carinii and Recovery

Mark E. Lasbury,^* Pamela J. Durant, Marilyn S. Bartlett, James W. Smith, and Chao-Hung Lee

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202

Received 19 April 2002/ Returned for modification 6 November 2002/ Accepted 16 November 2002

Changes in the number of alveolar macrophages were correlated with organism burden during Pneumocystis carinii infection. The lungs of healthy, dexamethasone-treated, and dexamethasone-treated and P. carinii-infected rats were lavaged with phosphate-buffered saline. Counting of alveolar macrophages in the lavage fluids revealed that P. carinii infection caused a 58% decrease in the number of alveolar macrophages and that higher P. carinii organism burdens caused a more rapid decrease in alveolar macrophage number. As a control, healthy rats were challenged with the same number of organisms as that normally used to generate P. carinii infections in dexamethasone-treated rats. Thirteen days after challenge, these rats had a profound (54%) increase in alveolar macrophage number in response to the challenge, while the number of alveolar macrophages in immunosuppressed and P. carinii-infected rats had decreased significantly by this time point. These experiments created the first animal model to mimic human pneumocystis pneumonia in alveolar macrophage number alterations. Reduction of P. carinii organism numbers by treatment of rats with trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole brought a slow rebound in alveolar macrophage number, while recovery from P. carinii infection by cessation of immunosuppression brought a rapid rebound in alveolar macrophage number. These results suggest that both the immune state of the host and P. carinii burden affect alveolar macrophage number.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, 1120 South Dr., FH 419, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5113. Phone: (317) 274-4606. Fax: (317) 278-0643. E-mail: melasbur{at}iupui.edu.

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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2003, p. 293-302, Vol. 10, No. 2
1071-412X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.10.2.293-302.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lasbury, M. E., Lin, P., Tschang, D., Durant, P. J., Lee, C.-H. (2004). Effect of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid from Pneumocystis carinii- Infected Hosts on Phagocytic Activity of Alveolar Macrophages. Infect. Immun. 72: 2140-2147 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Lasbury, M. E., Tang, X., Durant, P. J., Lee, C.-H. (2003). Effect of Transcription Factor GATA-2 on Phagocytic Activity of Alveolar Macrophages from Pneumocystis carinii-Infected Hosts. Infect. Immun. 71: 4943-4952 [Abstract] [Full Text]