Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2007 Jul;33(7):1229-1240.
doi: 10.1007/s00134-007-0662-7. Epub 2007 May 25.

Alveolar fluid clearance in acute lung injury: what have we learned from animal models and clinical studies?

Rory E Morty  1 , Oliver Eickelberg  2 , Werner Seeger  2
Affiliations
Review

Alveolar fluid clearance in acute lung injury: what have we learned from animal models and clinical studies?

Rory E Morty et al. Intensive Care Med. 2007 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome continue to be significant causes of morbidity and mortality in the intensive care setting. The failure of patients to resolve the alveolar edema associated with these conditions is a major contributing factor to mortality; hence there is continued interest to understand the mechanisms of alveolar edema fluid clearance.

Discussion: The accompanying review by Vadász et al. details our current understanding of the signaling mechanisms and cellular processes that facilitate clearance of edema fluid from the alveolar compartment, and how these signaling processes may be exploited in the development of novel therapeutic strategies. To complement that report this review focuses on how intact organ and animal models and clinical studies have facilitated our understanding of alveolar edema fluid clearance in acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Furthermore, it considers how what we have learned from these animal and organ models and clinical studies has suggested novel therapeutic avenues to pursue.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Factors that cause impaired alveolar fluid clearance in ALI/ARDS that have been investigated in animal and organ models and in clinical studies. ANF, Atrial natriuretic factor; ENaC, epithelial sodium channel; Na,K-ATPase, Na+, K+ transporting adenosine-5′-triphosphatase, TGF-β, transforming growth factor β
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Methods of potentiating alveolar fluid clearance in ALI/ARDS that have been validated in animal and organ models or in clinical studies. Interventions involving gene therapy are indicated in the shaded box. CFTR, Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator; D 1, dopamine D1 receptor; D 2, dopamine D2 receptor; EGF, epidermal growth factor; ENaC, epithelial sodium channel; KGF, keratinocyte growth factor; Na,K-ATPase, Na+, K+ transporting adenosine -5′-triphosphatase; T 3, 3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ware LB, Matthay MA. The acute respiratory distress syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2000;342:1334–1349. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200005043421806. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ware LB, Matthay MA. Alveolar fluid clearance is impaired in the majority of patients with acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001;163:1376–1383. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.163.6.2004035. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Matthay MA, Folkesson HG, Clerici C. Lung epithelial fluid transport and the resolution of pulmonary edema. Physiol Rev. 2002;82:569–600. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00003.2002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sznajder JI. Alveolar edema must be cleared for the acute respiratory distress syndrome patient to survive. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001;163:1293–1294. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.163.6.ed1801d. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Matthay MA. Function of the alveolar epithelial barrier under pathologic conditions. Chest. 1994;105:67–74. doi: 10.1378/chest.105.3_Supplement.67S. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms