title: Selected contribution: measuring the response time of pulmonary capillary recruitment to sudden flow changes.
abstract: To determine how rapidly pulmonary capillaries recruit after sudden changes in blood flow, we used an isolated canine lung lobe perfused by two pumps running in parallel. When one pump was turned off, flow was rapidly halved; when it was turned on again, flow immediately doubled. We recorded pulmonary capillary recruitment in subpleural alveoli using videomicroscopy to measure how rapidly the capillaries reached a new steady state after these step changes in blood flow. When flow was doubled, capillary recruitment reached steady state in <4 s. When flow was halved, steady state was reached in approximately 8 s. We conclude that the pulmonary microcirculation responds rapidly to step changes in flow, even in the capillaries that are most distant from the hilum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology/Biophysics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Jaryszak
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Presson
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Glenny
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D002196:Capillaries / Q000502:physiology; D004285:Dogs; D006706:Homeostasis; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D018715:Microscopy, Video; D010477:Perfusion; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000098:blood supply; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014893:Weightlessness