[Phospholipid components in BALFS from bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats]

Qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed on 5 components of phospholipids (PL) isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) during the development of bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The measurement of cells and protein in BALF, the pathologic and morphometric observation with light and electronic microscope were also done. Results indicated that the changes both in BALF cells and in lung histopathology were similar, the amount of protein in BALF increased, the total amount of PL in BALF increased more than 1.8-fold over control animals at days 28 after administration of Bleomycin, phosphatidylglycerol (PG) decreased with time, phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) increased, PG/PI ratio decreased, the PG/PI ratio could be used as a marker for pulmonary fibrosis.