Abstract
Mechanical ventilation can injure the lung, causing edema and alveolar inflammation. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) plays an important role in this inflammatory response. We postulated that cyclic cell stretch upregulates the production and release of IL-8 by human alveolar epithelium in the absence of structural cell damage or paracrine stimulation. To test this hypothesis, alveolar epithelial cells (A549 cells) were cultured on a deformable silicoelastic membrane. When stretched by 30% for up to 48 h, the cells released 49 ± 34% more IL-8 (P < 0.001) than static controls. Smaller deformations (20% stretch) produced no consistent increase in IL-8. Stretch of 4 h duration increased IL-8 gene transcription fourfold above baseline. Stretch had no effect on cell proliferation, cell viability as assessed by 51Cr release assay, or the release of granulocyte-macrophage colony- stimulating factor and tumor necrosis factor-α. We conclude that deformation per se can trigger inflammatory signaling and that alveolar epithelial cells may be active participants in the alveolitis associated with ventilator- induced lung injury.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | L167-L173 |
Journal | American Journal of Physiology - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology |
Volume | 277 |
Issue number | 1 21-1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 1999 |
Keywords
- Alveolar epithelium
- Deformation
- Inflammation
- Interleukin-8
- Mechanical forces
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physiology
- Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
- Physiology (medical)
- Cell Biology