Ultrastructure of bronchopulmonary lavage cells from bovines administered 3-methylindole: II. 24 hours post-treatment

Introduction3-methylindole (MI), a rumen metabolite of the amino acid L-tryptophan, has been shown to produce bovine pulmonary edema and emphysema. The airways contain free and exfoliated cells. A morphologic analysis of these cells may complement the understanding of the mechanism of lung edema. Ultrastructure of the bronchopulmonary lavage (BL) cells 24 h following MI oral administration to calves is described in this experiment. The 12 hours post-treatment results were described earlier.Materials and MethodsTwo Holstein-Friesian calves were each administered an oral dose of 0.2 g MI/Kg body weight and another two calves served as controls. The animals were euthanized with sodium pentabarbitol 24 h after receiving the compound. The lungs and trachea were removed and 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffered saline was infused into the lungs through the trachea. Glutaraldehyde fixative was added to the recovered BL fluid so as to form a 1% solution. The fluid was centrifuged and the resulting cell pellet was suspended in the buffer. The procedures were repeated on the suspension; the pellet was post-fixed in osmium tetroxide and was processed by conventional methods of section preparations for TEM examination. Lung samples from caudal lobes were fixed in 1.5% glutaraldehyde to obtain tissue sections for TEM.Results and DiscussionPulmonary alveolar macrophages (AM), neutrophils, ciliated epithelial cells, globule leukocytes and plasma cells were recovered from the BL fluid of the control and Mi-administered calves. Ciliated cells and globule leukocytes could not be harvested from the controls. The AM obtained from the treated calves (Fig. 1) in comparison with similar cells from the controls were larger, and contained large membrane-limited inclusions (phagolysosomes). There was a remarkable similarity between the lavaged AM and the AM studied in thin sections of lung (cf. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The neutrophil was the second most abundant cell type retrieved from the lavage fluid from the calves of control or treated group. Except for scanty pseudopodia in the neutrophils obtained from the Mi-receiving calves, the cells appeared unaltered (Fig. 3). Ciliated cells were abundant in the BL fluid of Mi-ingesting calves. A heterogeneous collection of vesicles filled the ciliated cell cytoplasm (Fig. 3). Globule leukocytes were commonly observed among BL cells of treated calves. The globule leukocytes were ca. 15 μm in diameter and contained round or elliptical nuclei with conspicuous nucleoli. The cytoplasmic granules, which are a prominent feature of globule leukocytes, were electron-opaque and had a variable diameter (0.5-3.0 μm). A one-line account of globule leukocytes in the bronchi of steers administered MI has appeared. Plasma cells were rare. Ultrastructure of BL cells is compatible with their response to chemical insult by MI.