Pulmonary diffusion in the dog lung

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Methods have been presented for assessing pulmonary diffusion by the "equilibration technique" in the experimental intact dog and perfused lung while controlling ventilation with a whole body respirator. No significant change in diffusion of carbon monoxide was noted between open and closed chest anesthetized animals, with duration of anesthesia in the intact dog, or with duration of perfusion of the isolated dog's lung. There was no demonstrable difference in diffusion when arterialized blood was used as the perfusate in place of mixed venous blood in the lung perfusions suggesting that within the range studied the Po₂, Pco₂, and pH of pulmonary artery blood does not directly affect the diffusion of carbon monoxide. Retrograde perfusions of dogs' lungs did not significantly alter diffusion, suggesting that pulmonary venous resistance was not significantly lower than pulmonary arterial resistance in the perfused dog lung at the flows and pressures studied. The equilibration technique for measuring pulmonary diffusion and assessing the uniformity of diffusion was well suited to the study of pulmonary diffusing characteristics in the experimental animal.