IVth International Meeting of Clinical Biology CH Sainte-Ode, Baconfoy, Belgium May 23-24th, 1987 clinical biology in intensive care medicine. Leukocyte aggregation and complement activation in respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

A diffuse lesion in the alveolar-capillary membrane appears as an initial pathological event which preludes the emergence of an Acute Respiratory Distress (ARDS) with pulmonary oedema. The implication of polymorphous nuclear cells (PMN) as the cells initiating this lesion remains solidly established. The activation of the complement system has been established in numerous circumstances associated with the risk of the development of an ARDS. This activation can be exogenous and leads to the generation of inflammatory agents, stimulating different types of cells such as the PMN, the monocytes and mastocytes by intermediation of specific receptors, and activate important function of locomotion, adhesion, aggregation, degranulation, etc. Authors describe here the behaviour of C5a and the aggregability of PMN in such patients with a risk of ARDS.