a
and interleukin-1
b
[IL-1
b
]) were found fol- lowing injurious mechanical ventilation with low end-expiratory lung volumes allowing tidal alveolar reopening and collapse with each breath (15). The superimposition of high end-inspira- tory lung volume (i.e., large tidal volume) on low end-expira- tory lung volume leads to a further synergistic increase in BAL cytokine concentrations (15).