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Effets de la fumée de tabac et des polluants atmosphériques gazeux sur l'activité antimicrobienne du macrophage alvéolaire

par Demoulin, André ;Demoulin-Brahy, L.
Référence Acta clinica Belgica (Ed. multilingue), 34, 2, page (88-96)
Publication Publié, 1979

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

The authors review the effect produced by paired action of gaseous pollutants and micro organisms on alveolar macrophages. When tobacco smoke acts in vivo, the number of alveolar macrophages harvested from lung washings, in man or animals, is most often increased. The treated phagocytes show the characteristics of 'activated' macrophages: marked glass-adherence and cytoplasm filled with various organites (lysosomes, Golgi vesicles, mitochondriae and residual bodies). Although the phagocytic properties of the cells are preserved, a reduction of the germicidal activity towards Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, is observed in the guinea-pig. When the macrophages cultivated in vitro, are exposed to tobacco smoke the pollutant depresses their physiologic activity: decreased glass-adherence, pycnotic aspect of the nucleus, vacuolisation of the cytoplasm, reduction of the phagocytic and germicidal activities towards Staphylococcus albus and epidermidis. Enhancement of infectious processes by nitrogen dioxide has been demonstrated in monkeys, hamsters and mice, when the animals were first exposed to the gas and then infected with an aerosol prepared with Klebsiella pneumoniae or with Staphylococcus aureus: a reduction of the pulmonary clearance of the germs was observed. Experiments carried out on guinea-pig alveolar macrophage cultures exposed to nitrogen dioxide, reveal a reduction of the phagocytic activity of these cells towards Staphylococcus aureus. Sulfur dioxide exerts a cytotoxic effect on rat alveolar macrophages cultivated in vitro in contact with the gas, as well as a decrease of cellular viability. The latter observation contrasts with a stimulatory effect on carbohydrate metabolism and an increase of several enzymatic activities. Ozone exerts a cytotoxic action, as demonstrated in vivo on rabbit alveolar macrophages, as well as in vitro on rat alveolar macrophages. Moreover, an inhibition of microbial phagocytosis in the alveolar macrophages was observed in the rabbits infected with Streptococcus group C Lancefield by tracheal route. On the whole, the gaseous pollutants studies here exerted an inhibitory action on the anti-infectious function of the alveolar macrophage, which is more pronounced in vitro than in vivo; the inhibitory action affects the germicidal rather than the phagocytic function of these cells.