[Changes in the lung tissue of newborn rats after paraquat as a model of respiratory distress].

The influence of paraquat on lung tissue of neonate rats was studied being supposed to mimic a respiratory distress syndrome of neonate children. One subcutaneous dose led to faster evolution of lesions in immature tissue than in adult animals. Lesions of capillary endothelial and alveolar epithelial cells manifested themselves by exudate in primitive alveoli (sacculi) as early as 16 hours after administering of the drug. An impairment of the surfactant and of its production is to be supposed similar to the impairment of air-blood barrier in immature neonate children. That is why the lesions could serve as an experimental model of development and influencing of respiratory distress syndrome.