Journal of Applied Physiology
Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 3-12, January 1997

Airway and alveolar permeability and surface liquid thickness: theory

John Widdicombe

Department of Physiology, St. George's Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, United Kingdom

Widdicombe, John. Airway and alveolar permeability and surface liquid thickness: theory. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(1): 3-12, 1997.The thickness of airway surface liquid (ASL) can be calculated as the ratio of the permeability coefficient of an absorbed inert tracer to the percentage rate in which it decreases in content in the airway lumen. The percentage clearance of radiolabeled diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) from human airways or lungs has been measured many times, with a mean value of 1.04 ± 0.25 (SD) %/min. Rates of clearance from animal lungs of most species give values of the same order, although they are lower in the sheep and higher in the dog. Permeability coefficients have not been measured simultaneously with percentage clearances and not at all for human tissues. Values for mannitol and sucrose, of which the former gives a permeability coefficient ~25% greater than that for sucrose and DTPA in airway tubes and isolated mucosal sheets from experimental animals, give a mean of ~7.1 × 10⁷ cm/s. This corresponds to thicknesses of ASL of ~20-150 µm for various species. The assumptions underlying this estimate are discussed. It is concluded that ASL thickness in vivo may be considerably greater than in vitro measurements involving rapid freezing of the airway wall. Estimates of alveolar permeability suggest that either it is very considerably lower than that of the airway epithelium, that methods to measure alveolar permeability mainly reflect airway permeability, or both.

airway surface liquid; lung tracer clearance; permeability coefficient; mucus; mucus thickness; mucociliary transport

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