Oxygen consumption by lungs with acute and chronic injury in a rabbit model.
OBJECTIVE
To study the oxygen consumption by lungs with acquired acute and chronic injury in a rabbit model.


METHODS
A non-randomized controlled animal study.


METHODS
Three groups of White New Zealand rabbits were studied to determine the oxygen consumption of the lungs. Group 1 (n=21, controls) consisted of healthy rabbits with normal lungs. The rabbits in group 2 (n=14) had sustained acute lung damage induced by subcutaneous N-nitroso-N-methylurethane and those in group 3 (n=9) had sustained chronic lung damage inflicted by a single dose of intra-tracheal bleomycin. Pulmonary oxygen consumption was estimated from the difference between the whole body oxygen consumption, measured by indirect calorimetry, and systemic oxygen consumption estimated by the Fick method.


RESULTS
Both acute and chronic lung-damaged groups had significantly greater pulmonary oxygen consumption than the control group, both as absolute values [control vs acute vs chronic: 0.25 (0.04) vs 0.76 (0.10) vs 1.77 (0.21) ml/kg per min, p<0.001], and as a percentage of total body oxygen consumption [2.98 (0.47) vs 9.34 (1.39) vs 20.20 (2.11)%, p<0.0001]. Histological evaluation of the severity of lung damage using a lung-injury score revealed significantly higher scores in both lung-injury groups than in the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that the lung is an important site of energy loss in subjects with acute and chronic lung injury.
Fok
T F
TF
Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong. taifaifok@cuhk.edu.hk
Gu
G J
GJ
To
K F
KF
Xu
F
F
Ng
P C
PC
Yin
J
J
D000208:Acute Disease; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D001761:Bleomycin; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis; D002153:Calorimetry, Indirect; D002302:Cardiac Output; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D009605:Nitrosomethylurethane; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D011817:Rabbits; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D001761:Bleomycin; D009605:Nitrosomethylurethane