Histoenzymological and ultrastructural studies of the macrophage-type pulmonary cell modifications under different...

The optical histoenzymological and electronomicroscopical investigations were carried out en 90 pulmonary biopsies taken from patients under different chronic stasis conditions. To investigate macrophage-type cells we studied the reactions of acid phosphatase and non-specific esterase like enzyme markers, indicating the metabolic state activation degree of this cellular compartment. The ultrastructural examinations revealed the existence of two types of activated pulmonary macrophages. The former is the alveolar macrophage with a prevailing phagolysosome apparatus that pleads for phagocytic function and the latter is the interstitial macrophage with subcellular aspect corresponding to the synthesis and secretion function. The presence of these activated alveolar and interstitial macrophages, as well as their extremely increased number, plead for their direct participation in the appearance and aggravation of the morphophysiopathological disorders in the chronic stasis lungs.