[The peculiarities of the relationship between the effector cells of the local immune system in the broncho-vascular barrier of the breast-fed infants presenting with certain acute respiratory viral infections].

The acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) are ranked among the most widespread diseases affecting the children in the early infancy. They account for 60 to 85.4% of all infections recorded in the young children.

AIM: The objective of the present study was to elucidate the peculiar features of the accumulation of the effector cells of the local immunity system and intercellular interplay in the broncho-vascular barrier of the breast-fed infants presenting with various ARVIs.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We undertook the analysis of 32 cases of infections caused by influenza A and B viruses and of the adenovirus infection verified by the immunofluorescence assay. The group of comparison was comprised of 10 children presenting with congenial heart disease in the absence of the signs of inflammatory processes in the lungs. The tissue samples were harvested from the upper lobe of the lung at the level of the lobe bronchus and a terminal bronchiola. The materials for the histological study were prepared using the Romanovsky method. The effector cells were examined in the lamina propria of bronchial mucosa and the submucous layer. The morphometric analysis included direct counting the number of lymphocytes, mast cells, macrophages, plasmocytes, eosinophils, and neutrophils with the subsequent recalculation of the data thus obtained per unit volume of the connective tissue. The results of the morphometric analysis were subjected to the statistical treatment.

RESULTS: The study has demonstrated that the young children suffering from a viral infection, regardless of the type of the causative factor, experience a change in the total number and the ratio of the effector cells at all the levels of the broncho-vascular barrier.