Alveolar liquid clearance in multiple nonperfused canine lung lobes . Grimme, John D., Susan M. Lane, and Michael B. Maron. Department of Physiology, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, Ohio 44272
APStracts 3:0437A, 1996.
We evaluated the ability of canine isolated nonperfused lung lobes to absorb fluid from their airspaces by simultaneously measuring alveolar liquid clearance (ALC) in 3 lobes removed from the same dog. Autologous plasma was instilled in the airspaces of each lobe, and the increase in plasma protein concentration resulting from fluid reabsorption was used to calculate ALC. ALC after 4 hrs was 16.5+/ -0.6 (SE)% of the instilled fluid volume under baseline conditions and was 30.2+/-1.3% after terbutaline (10-5M) administration. These values were similar to those previously reported for intact dogs. Propranolol (10-4M) and ouabain (10-3M) reduced ALC in terbutaline stimulated lobes to, respectively, 20.4+/-0.8 and 3.9+/-1.4%. There was no significant difference in ALC among the 3 lobes under either baseline conditions or after terbutaline administration. These data indicate that the sodium and water transport mechanisms of the canine alveolar epithelium remain viable during 4 hrs of nonperfusion and that there are no intrinsic differences in the transport properties of individual lung lobes. The ability to study several lobes simultaneously without the need for perfusion will allow for the design of experiments in which multiple interventions can be studied using lung lobes from the same animal.

Received 1 March 1996; accepted in final form 4 September 1996.
APS Manuscript Number A208-6.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 7 October 1996