The phagocytic activity of alveolar macrophages (AM) in a group of patients with stage I, stage II and stage III
pulmonary sarcoidosis (gradation according to Wurm) has been investigated. Additionally a classification in different forms of the course of
sarcoidosis was made (acute = Loefgren's syndrome, latent = primary-chronic, and relapses). Patients with other
lung diseases and healthy subjects were recruited as control group. The phagocytic activity (stimulation with opsonized yeast cell wall particles) of AM, which were isolated by bronchoalveolar lavage, was determined by means of chemiluminescence (CL)-measuring using
lucigenin and
luminol, respectively, as amplifiers. The investigations showed that the
lucigenin-dependent yeast cell wall-induced CL of AM in patients with
sarcoidosis is significantly increased in comparison to the control group. No significant changes of the
luminol-dependent CL of AM from
sarcoidosis patients could be detected. The
lucigenin-dependent CL-response of AM is obviously an
indicator of the intensity of the alveolitis and thus of the activity of the pathological process in
sarcoidosis. The results suggest that in
pulmonary sarcoidosis there is a hyperreactive AM/lymphocytes-system.