ABSTRACT
Emphasis will be given to respiratory diseases caused by viruses and bacteria, including lung injury caused (indirectly) by sepsis and endotoxemia, whereas allergic respiratory hypersensitivity will only be dealt with in brief. The normal homeostatic condition in the RT as well as the cascade of events involved in inflammatory responses depends on cell-to-cell signaling via cytokines. Sepsis and endotoxemia-associated lung injury appears to be the most thoroughly studied area of respiratory tract (RT) disease in domestic animals in particular in sheep, pigs, dogs, and rabbits due to the usefulness of these animal models for pathogenesis studies of the syndromes in human patients. Although Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor has been reported to attenuate several clinico-pathological parameters in experimental endotoxin-induced acute lung injury in guinea pigs, it does not appear that this CK plays any decisive role in the pathogenesis of sepsis/endotoxemia.
