부산대학교 도서관

Mediators released from polymorphonuclear neutrophils, in particular elastase, are known to induce acute edematous lung injury. In this study we show that the pulmonary edema in isolated perfused rabbit lungs caused by activated neutrophils via release of elastase is significantly decreased by the Kunitz-type Inhibitor BbCl (10[sup-5] M) from Bauhinia bauhinoides to the same degree as by eglin C (10[sup-5] M) from Hirudo medicinalis, which was used as a reference. The highly homologous proteinase inhibitor BrPI (10[sup-5] M) from Bauhinia rufa, however, did not reduce edema formation. The major difference between these inhibitors is the much higher K[subi] value of BrPI (K[subi] = 38 nM) for elastase compared to BbCl (K[subi] = 5.3 nM) and eglin C (K[subi] = 0.2 nM), respectively. Elastase liberation from activated PMNs was not influenced by the inhibitors. Our results indicate that BbCl can be a useful tool to study the role of neutrophil elastase in pathophysiological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]