[Lung damage caused by paraquat. 1. Histologic, histochemical and pathophysiologic findings in rat lungs following acute paraquat poisoning].

A single dose of 0.05 mMol paraquat per kg body weight produced severe lesions in alveolar epithelial cells of type II and the capillary endothelial cells of rat lungs. The maximum damage pattern was seen after 48 hrs. Our results are in contrast to the general opinion in the literature, that paraquat leads to selective lesion of alveolar epithelial cells of type II in the lungs. The detection of the damage of the lung cells by semiquantitative histochemical investigations and the PO2 measurement as indicator of respiratory insufficiency were parallel in the time course. The right ventricular systolic pressure showed normal values.