Variability of Pulmonary Edema and Inflammatory Reaction at Different Times Following Phosgene Exposures in Rats

BACKGROUND AIM: To study the changes of pulmonary edema and inflammatory reaction in rats at different times after exposed to phosgene. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 180male rats were randomly divided into3experiments,6groups with10rats in each experiment.The six groups were:negative group exposed to room air and the positive groups exposed to38.08mg/L phosgene for1minute.Other five groups of rats exposed to phosgene of the same concentration and for the same time,but rats were killed after1hour,3hours,6hours,12hours and24hours'.Vascular permeability in lung,wet-to-dry lung weight ratio(W∶D ratio),cell count in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid(BALF),TNF-αand IL-10content in lung and in BALF were determined. RESULTS: With increasing time after the rats were poisoned by phosgene,vascular permeability in lung,W∶D ratio and the cell count in BALF significantly increased(P0.05);the content of TNF-αsignificantly increased(P0.05),at the same time,IL-10content significantly decreased(P0.05). CONCLUSION: The time courses of pulmonary edema and inflammatory reaction developing in rats exposed to phosgene were different.