Simultaneous O2 and CO diffusing capacity estimates from assumed lognormal VA, Q and DL distributions.

O2 and CO pulmonary transfer data obtained in dogs under steady-state conditions in hypoxia by Savoy et al. (Respir. Physiol. 42: 43-59, 1980) have been submitted to reevaluation and have yielded new estimates of the lung diffusing capacity, DL. For the proposed DL computation it has been assumed that functional inhomogeneity can be considered as resulting from lognormal distributions of the VA/Q and VA/DL ratios. The standard deviation, sigma, of the VA/Q distribution is computed from the measured (PA -Pa)CO2, and the same sigma value is assumed to prevail for the VA/DL distributions. This is equivalent to assume constant DL/Q ratios in the entire lung. With the so defined distributions, DL values, called D sigma O2 and D sigma CO, were sought, for which the model calculations yielded O2 partial pressures and CO fluxes equal to those measured. Compared with DL estimates computed with conventional procedures, these results show that D sigma O2 is twice as large as DLO2 computed with ideal alveolar PO2 and that D sigma CO lies between DLCO computed with the mean alveolar PCO and that computed with the ideal alveolar PCO. The D sigma O2/D sigma CO ratio was on the average 1.2, a value which, unlike the ratios obtained with conventional DLO2 and DLCO estimates, is in good agreement with the characteristics of diffusion and of chemical association of O2 and CO with blood.