Inflammation
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Comparative Study
Increased oxidative stress and altered levels of antioxidants in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
An imbalance between oxidative stress and antioxidative capacity has been proposed to play an important role in the development and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We carried out a study to assess the systemic oxidant-antioxidant status in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and relate it to the severity of disease. We measured a wide range of parameters of oxidant-antioxidant balance in leukocytes, plasma and red cells of 82 patients with COPD and 22 healthy non-smoking controls (HNC). ⋯ Plasma FRAP had a positive whereas total blood glutathione had a significant negative correlation with the severity of airways obstruction (FEV(1)% predicted). Further, comparisons between clinical stages of severity of COPD revealed significant differences in plasma FRAP and total blood glutathione. Our observations suggest there is a systemic oxidant-antioxidant imbalance in the patients with COPD.
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The objective of this study is to determine if heat stress prior to endotoxemia diminishes cardiopulmonary dysfunction by attenuating the cytokine inflammatory response. Rats were assigned to either: 1) neutropenia; 2) heat; 3) neutropenia, LPS; or 4) heat, neutropenia, LPS. Heart rate, blood gases, and blood, lung lavage, and lung mRNA for tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta, and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2 were measured. ⋯ Heart rate was similar in both LPS groups but higher than non-LPS groups. Heat pretreatment attenuates lung injury in the neutropenic, endotoxemic rat but not by decreasing TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, or MIP-2 in the lung. Heat prior to LPS did not prevent cardiac dysfunction in neutropenic rats.