Studies on superoxide production of pulmonary alveolar macrophages. Part. 2. Experimental studies on superoxide and lipid peroxide production by pulmonary alveolar macrophages of hyperglycemic guinea pigs.

Patients with diabetes mellitus are susceptible to infections, due to the disturbance of host defense mechanisms, such as chemotaxis, phagocytosis and killing of bacteria. In this experiment superoxide production and lipid peroxide production, by peroxidation of unsaturated fatty acid, were examined. The superoxide production activity of PAM in hyperglycemics was significantly lower(P<0.005) than that in normal controls. The values were 5.68±1.68 nmol/10(6) cells/min in the former and 8.20±2.60 nmol/10(6) cells/min in the latter. The lipid peroxide production activity (△TBARS) in hyperglycemics (0.06±0.04 nmol/10(6) cells) was lower(P<0.05) than that of normal controls (0.10±0.07 nmol/10(6) cells). The lipid peroxide production activity (△TBARS) was proportionate to the superoxide production activity(r=0.570, P