Effect of platelet activating factor (PAF) on pulmonary circulation in isolated rabbit lung

Platelet activating factor (PAF) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of acute lung injury. The aim of this work is to study the effect of PAF on isolated and perfused rabbit lungs with blood and with a blood-free solution. 24 isolated and perfused rabbit lungs have been used: 8 control preparations (CP), 4 vehicles preparations (VP), 8 PAF preparations (PP) to which we administered PAF (1 microg/Kg of rabbit weight) and 4 acellular preparations (AP) with the same dose of PAF as in PP but dissolved in BSA-Krebs buffer solution. In the preparations pulmonary artery pressure (Ppa), airway pressure (Paw), left atria pressure (Pla) and fluid filtration rate (FFR) were registered. Ppa resulted in a significant difference in AP vs PP, with a value of 21 cm of water (CI 95%: 12-26) vs 205.1 cm of water (CI 95%: 141.3 - 271) respectively. A increase in FFR was observed in PP but it did not occur in AP, the difference being statistically significant: 5.515 g/min (CI 95 %: 2.425 - 8.865) vs 0.049 g/min (CI 95%: 0.008 - 0.32) respectively. Paw was statistically different in PP vs AP, with a value of 14.3 cm of water (CI 95%: 11.57 - 16.7) vs 8.5 cm of water (CI 95%: 8-9) respectively. These results suggest that PAF does not have a direct effect on the endothelium or smooth muscle in the production of lung edema.