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We report a case of a 25-year-old, white, male plaster worker who started developing fever, severe dyspnea and cough during the manipulation of esparto fibers. The functional lung study showed restrictive lung disease and decreased single-breath carbon monoxide transfer lung capacity. High-resolution computed tomography revealed a diffuse ‘ground-glass’ pattern. The histopathological findings were interstitial inflammation with a marked predominance of lymphocytes and microgranulomas. Bronchoalveolar lavage showed a significant predominance of lymphocytes, with an increase in the level of CD8. Serum precipitins against fungal antigens confirmed that Aspergillus fumigatus was the cause of the patient’s hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

This study aims to develop an NMR-based metabonomic approach to diagnostic evaluation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in a model of smoke exposure in mice. The current study compared the effects of acute and chronic smoke exposures performed on three strains of mice susceptible to develop COPD and two strains resistant to this disease. Intact lung tissue was examined using high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS). Six chemical shifts of the 1 H NMR spectrum including taurine, glutathione, phosphoryl choline and glycero-phosphocholine, were selected to ensure a high discrimination between control and acute exposed mice in the susceptible strain and, simultaneously, a low discrimination in the resistant strains. Using these metabolites, a chronic predictive model was developed and validated. The multivariate analysis provides a 100% true classification for sick mice and 78% for control animals. This pioneering study demonstrates that the NMR-based metabonomic analysis of intact lung tissue is a potential technique for the detection of COPD biomarkers and for the diagnosis of COPD in a mouse model of COPD. It might boost the study of tobacco smoke effects on other non-or less-invasive samples.