title: Terminal nitrogen rise.
abstract: Eighteen-breath nitrogen washouts were performed on eight subjects. Each washout could be simulated by a four-compartment model, each compartment with a different ventilation-to-volume ratio and a variable contribution to expiratory flow. In large breaths initiated near residual volume, a terminal nitrogen rise (TNR) was seen. To account for the TNR with this model, there were relatively small changes in flow from compartments with markedly different nitrogen concentration. Reasons are given for believing these compartments could not be the upper and lower lung. Three of these subjects were studied in the supine, seated, and head-down positions. The TNR was seen at the same lung volume in all positions. At routine bronchospirometry in a second group of subjects, sampling with small catheters during a nitrogen washout showed a TNR in the expirate of lungs, lobes, segments, and subsegments in the upright and supine positions. Apparently a large vertical hydrostatic gradient is unnecessary to produce a TNR. Finally, the TNR was shown to occur at that lung volume where transpulmonary pressure is very small and changing rapidly with volume. This TNR was often followed by a terminal nitrogen fall while the lung was continuing to empty. The TNR occurs when flow from a large poorly ventilated compartment increases relative to the flow from other compartments. A model of lung in which the poorly ventilated compartment develops high specific compliance at low lung volume explains these data.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D006801:Humans; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen; D012119:Respiration
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen