RESUMO
Furoyl saccharin was evaluated for its ability to prevent the development of emphysematous lesions produced in hamsters by the exposure to aerosolized papain (3% for 3 h). Pretreatment with intratracheal furoyl saccharin (at the doses of 0.3, 1, 3 mg) reduced the appearance of papain-induced emphysema as evaluated by both physiologic (static compliance) and histologic (mean linear intercept and internal surface area of the lungs) methods. Inhibition was dose-related with maximal reduction of changes in static compliance (74%), mean linear intercept (84%) and internal surface area (65%) observed after a dose of 3 mg. This is the first time that a non-peptide acylating inhibitor of serine proteases is reported to be affective in preventing the development of experimental emphysema.