[The effect of vaporization with thermal sulfurous water on phospholipids in the broncho-alveolar lavage solution following hypobaric hypoxia in the rat].

We have studied, in the rat, the action of a vaporization with sulphurous water from Bagnères de Luchon on the surfactant modifications caused by hypoxia. The phospholipase activity, subordinate to hypoxia, decreased by 1/5 compared to its value without treatment and the phospholipid composition of the broncho-alveolar lung lavage remained unchanged whereas after hypoxia without treatment the phosphatidylcholines level decreases by 26%. We demonstrated by a dose-response study that this protective action decreased with the thermal water dilution. We also showed that this effect could not be due to the only action of reduced sulphur: different concentrations of sulphur solutions had no action on the phospholipase A activity subordinate to hypoxia. So we can conclude that a vaporization with sulphurous water had a protective action against hypoxia on the broncho-alveolar lavage of rat lung.