(a) Total lung lavage cell count after exposure to saline, meconium, and milk.

Time	Saline (total lavage cells)	Meconium (total lavage cells)	Milk (total lavage cells)
0 hours	15.1 ± 2.1 × 103	14.8 ± 5.1 × 103	16.2 ± 3.2 × 103
4 hours	16.0 ± 2.7 × 103	12.1 ± 8.8 × 103	14.7 ± 2.9 × 103
8 hours	14.2 ± 2.1 × 103	10.7 ± 5.2 × 103*	15.2 ± 3.7 × 103
24 hours	12.9 ± 2.4 × 103	8.8 ± 11.1 × 103*	13.8 ± 2.6 × 103

*P < .05 versus 0 hrs.

Meconium group demonstrated a lower total lavage cell number compared to saline and milk groups. At 8 and 24 hrs after meconium instillation, the decrease of cells is significantly lower (P < .05) than baseline.