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Identification of Epithelial Cells in Bronchoalveolar Lavage

Institute of Occupational Medicine, University of Padova

Vanda Rado

Institute of Occupational Medicine, University of Padova

Aldo Dal Vecchio

Anaesthesiology Unit, O.O.T., Padova

Gianfranco Milani

Department of Pneumology, Rovigo General Hospital, Italy

Leonardo M. Fabbri

Institute of Occupational Medicine, University of Padova

Piero Maestrelli

Institute of Occupational Medicine, University of Padova

1 Damage to the bronchial epithelium occurs after the inhalation of toxic substances and allergens, and through virus infections and it may lead to increased desquamation of epithelial cells in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).

2 In this study we compared two methods of staining the epithelial cells of BAL, the conventional cytochemical May Grunwald-Giemsa stain (MGG) and an immunocytochemical technique using a monoclonal antibody anti-human cytokeratin (CK) detected with APAAP immuno-alkaline phosphatase. BAL was obtained from 13 subjects and the epithelial cells were cytocentrifuged either immediately after collection (fraction A) or after washing (fraction B).

3 Higher percentages of epithelial cells were identified in fraction A with CK (20.0 ± 5.1 %) than in fraction A with MGG (11.2 ± 2.3%), which recognized only ciliated epithelial cells. In fact a proportion of CK-positive cells (34%) in fraction A were not ciliated. Underestimation of epithelial cells by MGG compared to CK was more pronounced in fraction B (8.0 ± 2.9% and 22.9 ± 3.0%, respectively) as there was a relative loss of ciliated CK+ cells after washings.

4 These results suggest that immunocytochemical staining with an anti-cytokeratin monoclonal antibody is more sensitive than using the MGG stain in detecting epithelial cells in BAL.

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 12, No. 1, 43-46 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/096032719301200109


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