Plasma surfactant D in patients following acute paraquat intoxication

Abstract

Free radical-induced lung injury is a major problem that occurs because of paraquat intoxication. Serum surfactant protein D (SP-D) reflects the severity of various lung diseases. The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes in plasma SP-D concentrations and to correlate disease severity with SP-D concentrations in patients with acute paraqaut intoxication. Twelve paraquat-intoxicated patients participated in this study. Their paraquat exposure was assessed by their plasma's paraquat level. Serial plasma SP-Ds were measured by ELISA. SP-D was decreased two and three days after the initial measurement within 2 to 72 hours of ingestion. There was no difference in initial SP-D levels between survivors and non-survivors. The SP-D test revealed a significant positive correlation between the SP-D level and PaO(2) (r = 0.384, p = 0.003, N = 57). SP-D did not predict the likelihood of survival, but it was positively correlated with PaO(2). This finding suggests that low concentrations of plasma SP-D could reflect hypoxia due to free radical-induced injury.