[Disorder of the phagocytosis process in alveolar macrophages in thermal injury]

Bacteriological assay, cytochemical studies of succinate and malate dehydrogenases, acid phosphatase, glycogen and lipids, as well as electron microscopy were used in experiments on 75 rabbits to examine over time phagocytosis of alveolar macrophages and some mechanisms of its disturbance after burn trauma. It was established that the phagocytic function of alveolar macrophages gets disturbed shortly after trauma, remaining depressed up to the time of convalescence. It was demonstrated that the mechanism by which phagocytic function gets disturbed differs with time following trauma. Primary depression of phagocytosis occurs immediately after burn. At the height of burn disease the cells develop an energy deficient state, whereas the time of convalescence is marked by the emergence of poorly differentiated forms of macrophages having the reduced phagocyte capacity.