Capillary transport of macromolecules: pores and other endothelial pathways.

Can a pore or pore-equivalent model account for transport of macromolecules across microvascular endothelium, or are alternate nonpore pathways necessary? Pores may be defined as aqueous channels of any shape or configuration, including those through a fiber matrix. Such pathways exhibit selective restriction to passage of macromolecules depending on their size, shape, and electrical charge. At least two pore pathways (small and large), differing in both sieve-element spacing and in hydraulic conductivity by an order of magnitude, are required to account for observed size selectivity for plasma proteins of similar shapes and charges. For the two organs examined critically in this review (cat ileum and dog paw), transport of macromolecules through small and large pore pathways is predominately convective. Total transport through small and large pores (alternatively, narrow and wide slits or fine and coarse fiber matrices) is insufficient to account for observed transport rates at low-to-moderate levels of volume flow. Either the estimated pore sizes and hydraulic conductivities derived from measurements of high volume-flow sieving are incorrect or other nonconvective transport pathways contribute substantially to macromolecular transport at low (normal) volume flow.