Adaptation of the growing lung to increased oxygen consumption. II. Morphometric analysis.

This paper is the second part of a study investigating the effect of increased O2 consumption on the lungs of growing animals. By means of injections of the drug IDPN (imino-betabeta'-dipropionitrile) hyperkinesia was permanently induced in white mice aged 3 weeks, thus increasing their Vo2 per gram body weight (= specific VO2) by 50%. 3 1/2 months later the lungs of these animals were fixed by standardized procedure, analysed by morphometric techniques and the results compared with those of control mice originating from the same litters. Whereas the specific weights (= weights per gram body weight) of various organs did not differ significantly in the two groups, the specific volume of the lungs fixed with standardized techniques was up by 23% in IDPN mice. The relative composotion of lung parenchyma was also altered: air space volume density was slightly but significantly reduced, whereas tissue and capillary volume densities were both increased by 15%. An analogous increase was detected in alveolar and capillary surface densities. These changes led to significantly higher specific capillary and tissue volumes, as well as higher specific gas exchange surface areas in DIPN mice. Therefore the morphometrically determined specific pulmonary diffusion capacity was increased by more than 40% in the IDPN-treated animals. The findings are compared with those hitherto reported, where a structural adaptation of the gas exchange apparatus to exercise or altered PO2 had been found. In view of our present knowledge of the postnatal lung growth the quantitative structural alterations found in this experiment indicate that the higher O2 requirements in IDPN mice induced an alteration in the septal morphology. This consisted in an augmentation of septal volume possibly due to a lengthening and corrugation of the intralveolar septa. This change is reflected by the increased alveolar surface area in IDPN mice and by the increase of the ratio Sa/Va estimating the air space surface complexity.