Toxicology letters
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The pulmonary damage caused by prolonged exposure to high oxygen concentrations is accompanied by lung inflammation, which may contribute to the expression of hyperoxic lung injury. In turn, adhesion molecules are crucial for initiating inflammatory responses. The goal of the present study was to investigate the association of contents of soluble adhesion molecules in plasma or alveolar fluids of hyperoxic rats with lung expression of adhesion molecules, lung inflammation and lung injury. ⋯ Lung ICAM-I expression was more than doubled at 48 h, although soluble ICAM-I contents were not elevated in plasma or lavage. Soluble E-Selectin was increased by more than 50% at 24 h of hyperoxia-exposure, while lung expressions of E-Selectin were not increased until 48 h. The sequence of the events observed in the present studies suggests that E-Selectin contributes to lung inflammation in hyperoxia and the acceleration of lung injury immediately following the inflammatory response suggests a pivotal role for inflammation in this injury.