Role of the alveolar macrophage in host defense and immunity to Legionella micdadei pneumonia in the guinea pig

Guinea pigs develop a lethal pneumonia after intratracheal infection with Legionella micdadei, and the lung displays pathological changes similar to those observed in humans. To investigate the role of the resident alveolar macrophage in the pathogenesis of L. micdadei pneumonia, guinea pig alveolar macrophages obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage were cultured in vitro and infected with L. micdadei. In the absence of opsonins L. micdadei was phagocytized by, and multiplied within, alveolar macrophages with greater than a 100-fold increase in cell-associated colony forming units over 20 h. L. micdadei opsonized with complement or antibody multiplied within alveolar macrophages at the same rate as unopsonized bacteria. Guinea pigs which were treated with antimicrobials after infection with L. micdadei and recovered from the pneumonia were immune to challenge with an otherwise lethal inoculum of L. micdadei. However, the growth curve of both unopsonized and opsonized L. micdadei in the alveolar macrophages from immune animals was essentially identical to that in macrophages from susceptible animals. Thus, the resident alveolar macrophage is not capable of limiting the growth of Legionella. Rather, the alveolar macrophages appear to be the primary site of Legionella multiplication within the lung. Although alveolar macrophages may participate in other aspects of pulmonary immunity to the legionellae, these data indicate that the alveolar macrophage alone does not act as an effector cell in cell-mediated immunity to Legionella.