Multiple-breath washout and washin experiments in steers

Multiple-breath N2 washouts (WO) and washins (WI) were performed during regular tidal breathing in 11 unsedated healthy steers approaching pulmonary functional maturity (mean body weight = 271 kg). They inspired 20% O2 in 80% Ar during the WO and air during the WI. For each steer, we computed two indexes of ventilation inhomogeneity from the N2 WO curves: 1) the curvilinearity of the logarithm of end-tidal N2 concentrations as a function of cumulative expired volume reflected in the ratio of two slopes fitted between 100 and 50% and between 50 and 10%, respectively, of end-tidal N2 concentration of the first breath of the WO; and 2) the N2 phase III slope divided by the mean expired concentration (Sn) of each breath also plotted as a function of cumulative expired volume. Equivalent computation of both parameters was done on WI and WO curves, and similar results were obtained. The mean slope ratio was 0.812 +/- 0.119 (SD) for all the steers, which is consistent with topographic gravity-dependent specific ventilation distribution inhomogeneity. Sn was independent of the breath number both for WO and WI (mean Sn = 0.130 +/- 0.057 liters-1), suggesting that emptying between unequally ventilated units, is synchronous. This behavior resembles that observed in rats postmortem (S. Verbanck, E.R. Weibel, and M. Paiva. J. Appl Physiol. 71: 847–854, 1991) but contrasts with experiments in humans, in whom convection-dependent ventilation inhomogeneities generate a marked increase in Sn throughout the entire WO (A. B. H. Crawford, M. Makowska, M. Paiva, and L. A. Engel. J. Appl. Physiol. 59: 838–846, 1985). This is surprising because one would expect gravity-dependent sequential emptying in animals of this size.

Alveolar slope and dead space of He and SF6 in dogs: comparison of airway and venous loading

Series (Fowler) dead space (VD) and slope of the alveolar plateau of two inert gases (He and SF6) with similar blood-gas partition coefficients (approximately 0.01) but different diffusivities were analyzed in 10 anesthetized paralyzed mechanically ventilated dogs (mean body wt 20 kg). Single-breath constant-flow expirograms were simultaneously recorded in two conditions: 1) after equilibration of lung gas with the inert gases at tracer concentrations [airway loading (AL)] and 2) during steady-state elimination of the inert gases continuously introduced into venous blood by a membrane oxygenator and partial arteriovenous bypass [venous loading (VL)]. VD was consistently larger for SF6 than for He, but there was no difference between AL and VL. The relative alveolar slope, defined as increment of partial pressure per increment of expired volume and normalized to mixed expired-inspired partial pressure difference, was larger by a factor of two in VL than in AL for both He and SF6. The He-to-SF6 ratio of relative alveolar slope was generally smaller than unity in both VL and AL. Whereas unequal ventilation-volume distribution combined with sequential emptying of parallel lung regions appears to be responsible for the sloping alveolar plateau during AL, the steeper slope during VL is attributed to the combined effects of continuing gas exchange and ventilation-perfusion inequality coupled with sequential emptying. The differences between He and SF6 point at the contributing role of diffusion-dependent mechanisms in intrapulmonary gas mixing.