BPD in premature infants is associated with increase recruitment of inflammatory cells into the airway as well as with increased chemotactic activity of cytokines. Dexamethasone treatment for BPD has been shown to reduce chemotactic response of BALF PMNs in association with reduction of cytokines. ANS given to women at the risk of premature delivery has decreased mortality and morbidity of VLBW infants. We have examined the effect of ANS on BALF of VLBW infants with RDS requiring rescue surfactant treatment during the first week of life. Nine infants received ANS, seven did not. (*indicates P<0.05) Table

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All but one infant in each group developed BPD requiring O2 at 30 days and postnatal steroid therapy. Measured cytokines normalized for BUN from BALF were higher in the ANS group; however, these differences were not significant due to a large variance. The number of BALF inflammatory cells was not significantly different in the ANS and control groups (1.97 ±1 vs 3.34±2.5 × 106 cells/ml); nor was BALF chemiluminescence. BALF chemiluminescence activity was significantly lower compared to adult peripheral blood neutrophils, which may be due to in vivo activation of neutrophils. Further data is required to confirm this hypothesis. Our data suggests that in infants who developed BPD, ANS had no significant effect on inflammatory response.