Pathogenesis of pulmonary edema associated with intracisternal endotoxin in dogs.

To examine the role of central nervous system injury in the pathogenesis of pulmonary edema, we injected Escherichia coli endotoxin (5 mg/kg) into the cisterna magna of six dogs (group E) and compared, over 4 h, both the pulmonary edema and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) abnormalities with those in six control dogs (group C). In group E, intracisternal endotoxin raised intracranial pressure from 21 +/- 6 to 38 +/- 8 cmH2O (P less than 0.001), CSF total protein from 18 +/- 6 to 54 +/- 19 mg/dl (P less than 0.001), and CSF malondialdehyde from 0.12 +/- 0.11 to 0.61 +/- 0.35 nmol/ml (P less than 0.05); all were unchanged in group C. When the pulmonary wedge pressure was maintained at 10 mmHg by fluid infusion, extravascular thermal volume in group E increased from 7.2 +/- 1.2 to 12.0 +/- 2.7 ml/kg (P less than 0.005) at 4 h when the excised lungs weighed 13.6 +/- 1.5 g/kg; in group C, extravascular thermal volume did not increase, and the excised lungs weighed less (10.8 +/- 1.3 g/kg, P less than 0.05) than those in group E. The dry weights of the lungs were not different between groups, and the alveolar lining fluid-to-plasma albumin ratio in both groups remained low, 0.1-0.2. Fluid infusion in group E (9.2 +/- 2.9 liters) caused colloid oncotic pressure to decrease 4.5 +/- 2.8 mmHg; colloid oncotic pressure fell less (0.8 +/- 1.9 mmHg, P less than 0.001) in group C as less fluid (2.2 +/- 1.5 liters, P less than 0.001) was required to maintain pulmonary wedge pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)