Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology - contenuto non piu disponibile

The link between cigarette smoke (CS) and lung inflammation is quite strong, however relatively little is still known on the effects of CS on human bronchial epithelial cells survival during asthma. In this study we focused our attention on the apoptotic effects of CS on healthy (HC) and asthmatic (AS) primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBEC) and on the role of antioxidants to protect epithelial cells from CSE-induced apoptosis. Twenty subjects (10 HC and 10 AS) were recruited for this study and PBEC were obtained by bronchoscopy. PBEC were treated with oxidants (H2O), anti-oxidants (GSH and AA) and cigarette smoke extracts (CSE). Early apoptosis (EA) and necrosis were measured by flow cytometry using Annexin-V and propidium iodide. After treatment with CSE 20%, AS showed an increased susceptibility to the CSE treatment compared to HC (24.34+/-9.61 vs 48.45+/-11.91, p=0.003). Similarly, when EA was taken into consideration, there was a significant increase of EA cells in the AS group treated with CSE compared to HC (33.12+/-10.38 vs 16.73+/-6.92, p