title: Vascular interdependence in postmortem human lungs.
abstract: Interdependence of arteries and the surrounding lung was estimated in excised, postmortem human lungs. At low vascular pressures, vessel diameter increased as the lung was inflated. At high vascular pressures, vessel diameter decreased as the lung was inflated. Compared to the effects of interdependence in excised dog lobes, those in human lungs at low transpulmonary pressures were small. The following conclusions were reached: (1) the diameter of intrapulmonary arteries is stabilized (more constant with changes in intravascular pressure) when the lung has a high transpulmonary pressure; (2) increases in pulmonary vascular resistance at high lung volumes may be related to extra-alveolar, as well as intra-alveolar, vessel compression; (3) interdependence in human lungs differs markedly from interdependence in dog lungs.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011312:Pressure; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D014655:Vascular Resistance