Smoking increases the number of cells recovered by a factor of four to six, largely due to an increase in the number of macrophages. BAL provides a relatively noninvasive means of assessing some ...

low-challenge and high-challenge lungs underwent both cell picking and lavage, the latter approach being split into direct mRNA extraction and secondary embedding of lavaged alveolar macrophages ...

These include hemorrhage, specimen atelectasis or crush artifact, pseudolipoid pneumonia, pleural fragments, blue bodies, and entrapped alveoli in the bronchial submucosa with macrophage accumulation.

More information: Emily M. King et al, Gpnmb and Spp1 mark a conserved macrophage injury response masking fibrosis-specific programming in the lung, JCI Insight (2024). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.182700 ...