The unsaturated C-18 fatty acid oleic acid (OA) is known as a potent lung toxicant.1) Intravenous injection of OA to animals produces acute lung injury with hypoxemia and an increase in pulmonary vascular permeability, and has been used as a model of clinical acute lung injury including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). [1][2][3][4] Soybean-based fat emulsions (SFEs) are clinically used worldwide for nutritional support. SFEs contain a high level of OA (e.g., 22-25% of the fatty acid in Intralipid ® , a formulation of SFE), 5) yet despite this, do not induce lung injury when used properly. The reason for the low pulmonary toxicity of SFEs remains unclear, although it has been postulated that "bolus injection" may induce an acute load of OA to the lungs and subsequent lung injury. However, since SFEs are clinically administered by continuous injection, little has been reported on the effects of "bolus injection" of SFE on pulmonary function.This study was conducted to examine whether a "bolus injection" of SFE induces acute lung injury accompanied by pulmonary gas exchange and/or vascular hyper-permeability as is the case with OA. In addition, we also compared the effect of an injection of SFE with that of OA, soybean oil (a source of SFE), emulsified OA and C-18 fatty acids, namely, stearic, linoleic and linolenic acid, on pulmonary gas exchange and evaluated the possibility of lung injury induced by these lipids. . Other reagents and solvents were of reagent grade. Emulsified OA was prepared by adding 1 ml of OA to 4 ml of cold water using a microsyringe with vibration. This mixture was then sonicated for 5 min. The average particle diameter of the OA emulsion particles was less than 1 mm. The OA emulation was prepared just before use. Deionized distilled water was used throughout.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
MaterialsAnimal Care and Handling This study was approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Kumamoto University. The care and handling of animals were performed in accordance with the National Institutes of Health guidelines for the care and handling of animals. All operations and measurements mentioned below were performed as described previously.
3,4)Measurement of the Partial Oxygen Pressure of Arterial Blood (Pao 2 ) To examine the effect of bolus injection of SFE and other lipids on pulmonary gas exchange (Table 1), we measured Pao 2 . Briefly, guinea pigs were randomly divided into 6 groups and treated with the following: 1) 0.3-4.8 ml/kg SFE; 2) 4.8 ml/kg saline (as a control group); 3) 15-60 ml/kg OA; 4) 65-260 ml/kg soy bean oil; 5) 75-300 ml/kg emulsified OA; or 6) 15 ml/kg C-18 fatty acids (stearic, linoleic or linolenic acid). Reagents were administered through the subclavian vein. Pao 2 was then determined 0, 6, 10, 15, 35, 55, and 75 min after the injection with a To determine whether or not a "bolus injection" of soybean-based fat emulsion (SFE), which contains oleic acid (OA), a potent lung-toxic unsaturated C-18 fatty acid, can induce pulmonary dysfunction, we examined the effect...