Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 6473890
Rev Mal Respir 1984;1(3):181-5
The phospholipid content of bronchoalveolar lavage (LBA) has been little studied till now. This work involved 96 LBA on 7 cases of allergic alveolitis, 11 cases of diffuse interstitial fibrosis (FID) and 42 of sarcoidosis. The liquid collected was submitted to a cellular study (cellularity, total and differential) and biochemical (total proteins, total phospholipids separated into their different fractions by chromatography which enabled the identification of phosphatidyl-choline, phosphatidyl-serine and phosphatidyl-inositol in particular). The cytological results were close to the classical data, a rise in the lymphocyte level in allergic alveolitis and active sarcoid, a rise in polymorphonuclear cells in FID. Biochemical analysis showed a fall in total phospholipids for the whole group, the drop being the greatest in the FID. Phosphatidyl-choline, the principle phospholipid of surfactant in normals, was reduced in all three groups of patient when expressed as a percentage of total phospholipids. This fall was greatest with an allergic alveolitis and occurred on a pro rata basis with a rise in phosphatidyl-serine and inositol. The protein phospholipid ratio (PL/P) expressed in micrograms of phospholipid and milligrams of protein fell in a significant fashion in all the pathological groups. This fall was significantly larger in allergic alveolitis than FID and active sarcoid. The PL/P ratio seems to be a good marker of active sarcoid, correlating with the activity of the disease inversely with the lymphocyte level, and was unchanged by steroids unlike the lymphocyte count. A rise in this ratio correlates with an improvement in the radiological and clinical state.