Constrictive Bronchiolitis in Previously Deployed Soldiers
Abstract
We performed histopathological analysis of small airways (bronchioles) from 27 soldiers with constrictive bronchiolitis (CB), 55 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 18non-diseased non-smoking (NS) controls. We found widespread pathological changes in COPD airways (loss of alveolar attachments, wall thickening and remodeling, decreased collagen density, and luminal occlusion by mucus plugs. Small airways of soldiers with CB were characterized by concentric fibrosis with increased collagen density and reduced elastin density without increase of wall thickness. These data provide reasonable explanation why soldiers with CB do not develop airway obstruction in spite of advanced fibrous remodeling in their small airways. Soldiers with CB also showed increased wall-to-lumen diameter ratio and small muscle hypertrophy in distal arterioles, collagen and elastin deposition and reduced density of blood capillaries in interalveolar septa, and thickening and fibrosis of pleura suggesting that pathological changes develop in all lung tissue compartments. We performed additional experiments in which we increased sulfur dioxide dose and found out that inhalation exposure (125 ppm)for 4 hours every day for 2 weeks is optimal. Based on similarity of pathological changes in exposed mice with those in soldiers with CB, we selected this model for future work.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1158827
Entities
People
- Vasiliy Polosukhin
Organizations
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center