Antithrombin III treatment improves parameters of acute inflammation in a highly histoincompatible model of rat lung allograft rejection.

Background. Antithrombin III (AT-III) is an antithrombotic agent with known anti-inflammatory properties that is also known to attenuate acute inflammation, prevent ischemia-reperfusion injury, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) associated with sepsis and endotoxemia. Here, we examined the ability of AT-III to modify parameters of acute inflammation in a highly histoincompatible model of rat lung allograft rejection (AR). Methods. After left single lung transplantations (BN-->Lew), recipient animals were treated i.v. with 50 U/kg of human AT-III (low dose group), 500 U/kg of human AT-III thigh dose group), or normal saline (control group) on days 2 and 4 posttransplant. All animals were sacrificed on day 6, and several pathological categories of acute inflammation related to APL were scored (0-4). The effect of AT-III on concanavalin A (Con A)-stimulated rat spleen cell proliferation was also examined. Results. The stage of AR, and the degrees of edema, hemorrhage, and necrosis were significantly reduced in the high dose group compared with the control group. AT-III significantly inhibited rat spleen cell proliferation in response to Con A, in a dose-dependent manner. Maximal inhibition was seen at 15 U/ml in culture. Identical inhibition of Con-A-stimulated cultures occurred in both serum free and serum-containing media, indicating that AT-III inhibition of Con-A-stimulated rat spleen cell proliferation is independent of its actions on thrombin. Conclusions. 1) AT-III treatment significantly improves parameters of acute inflammation seen in a highly histoincompatible model of rat lung AR. 2) AT-III inhibits in vitro T cell proliferation to the potent mitogen Con A, suggesting that protease inhibition may inhibit T cell activation in vitro. 3), The beneficial effects of AT-III on parameters of lung AR relate to the anti-coagulant, anti-inflammatory, and possibly immunoregulatory actions of AT-III.