Goodpasture's syndrome in aging. An experimental study on the rat. I

The following hypothesis is proposed: Experimental lung disease in old rats is different from this disease in adult rats. In order to demonstrate this, we performed a morphometrical evaluation of the pulmonary state of two groups of rats at different ages and to which Goodpasture's syndrome had been induced. 115 Wistar rats were used. They were divided into four different groups as follows: 1) Healthy adult rats which had not been subjected to treatment; 2) diseased adult rats to which antipulmonary serum had been administered; 3) healthy old rats; and 4) diseased old rats. With the help of a computerized system, the length of the alveolar chord, the thickness of the alveolar wall and the surface of the bronchial-associated lymphoid tissue in each group was calculated. We also counted the number of alveolar macrophages (AM) with haemosiderin, the percentage of goblet bronchial cells and that of AM, lymphocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes of the broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL). The following results were obtained. When related to the diseased adult rats, the diseased old rats showed an increase in the alveolar chord and a decrease in the thickness of the alveolar wall, as well as in the number of AM with haemosiderin, goblet cells and BAL lymphocytes. These results support the proposed hypotheses, since the diseased adult animals showed signs of alveolar inflammation with interstitial edema, while in the diseased old animals these results are compatible with emphysema.