Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 49, Issue 4 547-551, Copyright © 1980 by American Physiological Society
Regional extravascular and interstitial lung water in normal dogs
P. D. Snashall, S. J. Keyes, B. Morgan, B. Jones and K. Murphy
We measured the regional distribution of pulmonary extravascular and
interstitial water to examine the possibility that regional differences in
microvascular pressure or tissue stress may cause regional differences in
lung water. We placed chloralose-anesthetized dogs in an upright (n = 6) or
supine (n = 7) position for 180 min. We injected 51Cr-labeled EDTA to
equilibrate to the extracellular space and 125I-labeled albumin to
equilibrate with plasma. At the end of the experiment, the lungs were
removed, passively drained of blood, and inflated before rapid freezing.
Lungs were divided into horizontal slices, and extravascular, interstitial,
and plasma water, red cell volume, and dry lung weight were determined for
each slice. We found that regional extravascular and interstitial water
were constant throughout the lungs in both groups and that there were no
significant differences between upright and supine dogs. There were no
significant differences in hematocrit between slices. We conclude that
gravity and body position have no measurable effect on either the total
size of the extravascular and interstitial compartments or their regional
distribution.
