Pulmonary alveolar macrophages PAMs

Macs are ubiquitous throughout the respiratory tract, and discrete populations can be discerned in the airway mucosa, the lung parenchyma ( interstitial macrophages IMs), the luminal surface of the alveoli (pulmonary alveolar macrophages PAMs) and the conducting airways, and in the vascular bed ( intravascular macrophages IVMs). The latter represent a stable marginated population, intimately associated with the endothelial basement membrane they are most common in ruminants (Winkler, 1989) but also occur in humans. 

FIGURE 1. A transmission electron micrograph of lung tissue illustrating attenuated type 1 pneu-mocytes (arrowheads), type II pneumocyte (arrow), and a pulmonary alveolar macrophage (PAM), a = alveolus c = capillary asterisk = platelet double arrowheads = capillary endothelium. The blood-air barrier consists of the type I pneumocyte, capillary endothelium, and the basement membrane separating these two cells. 

PAI Plasminogen activator inhibitor PA-IgG Platelet associated immunoglobulin G PAM Pulmonary alveolar macrophages... 

Arachidonic acid metabolism In vitro, a significant decrease in prostaglandin E2 and thromboxane Bj synthesis but not in prostaglandin p2 synthesis by the smoker pulmonary alveolar macrophages compared with non-smoker PAM was observed by Laviolette et al. (1981). 

---