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Quantitative Differences In Phagocytosis and Degradation of Pneumocystis By Alveolar Macrophages In Aids and Non‐Hiv Patients In Vivo
Author(s) -
WEHLE K.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1365-2303
pISSN - 0956-5507
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2303.1993.tb00093.x
Subject(s) - phagocytosis , in vivo , medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Broncholaveolar lavage (BAL) specimens ( n = 213) from AIDS and non‐HIV immunosuppressed patients were investigated for the presence of Pneumocystis carinii infection by fluorescence microscopy of Papanicolaou‐stained slides. Alveolar casts, extracellular pneumocysts and phagocytosed cysts and their degradation products in pulmonary alveolar macrophages were identified. the number of phagocytosed pneumocysts within human pulmonary alveolar macrophages was recorded and correlated with the number of extracellular cysts and alveolar casts, in both groups of patients. Both phagocytic and degradation capacity were depressed in AIDS patients. This observation may explain the large number of extracellular organisms found in BAL specimens of AIDS patients compared with non‐HIV‐positive immunocompromised individuals.