Role of Meconium and Hypoxia in Meconium Aspiration-Induced Lung Injury in Neonatal Rabbits

Table 2

(a) Total protein content in lung lavage fluid after exposure to saline, meconium, and milk (mg/ml).

Time	Saline group (total protein, mg/ml)	Meconium group (total protein, mg/ml)	Milk group (total protein, mg/ml)
0 hours	0.09±0.1	0.9±0.2	1.2±0.2
4 hours	0.11±0.1	4.1±1.0 *	1.1±0.7
8 hours	0.20±0.2	5.7±2.1 *	1.7±0.2
24 hours	0.24±0.2	6.2%±1.7 *	2.0±0.4

Total protein in lung lavage increased significantly in meconium group compared to both saline and milk groups (*𝑃<.05). There was a 10–20-fold increase in protein content meconium group compared to saline group and about 4-folds compared to milk group. Instillation of milk resulted in about 8–10-fold increase of total protein content compared to saline (*𝑃<.05). Please note that values at 0 hr indicate preinstillation baseline values in each group.

(b) Total protein levels after in hypoxic or hyperoxic conditions in lung lavage (mg/ml).

Time	Hypoxia group (total protein, mg/ml)	Hyperoxia group (total protein, mg/ml)
15 min	2.3±0.9^∗	3.1±1.1^∗

There was no difference in protein content between hypoxia and hyperoxia group. However, these levels were significantly lower than in the meconium group (𝑃<.05) (see above in Table 2(a)) and higher than the saline group.