Related Experiment Videos
Protease-antiprotease imbalance: local evaluation with bronchoalveolar lavage
M Luisetti1, P D Piccioni, A M Donnetta
1Istituto di Tisiologia e Malattie Respiratorie dell'Università, IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy.
Respiration; International Review of Thoracic Diseases
|January 1, 1992
Abstract:
The protease-antiprotease imbalance is thought to be involved in a variety of destructive lung diseases: pulmonary emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis and adult respiratory distress syndrome. Bronchoalveolar lavage allowed the investigators to assess the protease-antiprotease shift in such conditions but sometimes gave conflicting results. The role of bronchoalveolar lavage as a research and diagnostic tool in diseases characterised by protease-antiprotease imbalance is reviewed, as well as its potential usefulness in the near future.