Elastic characteristics of the lung perivascular interstitial space.

An analysis of the elastic behavior of the lung perivascular interstitial space during interstitial fluid accumulation is presented. Fluid accumulation must deform the lung parenchyma and vascular walls that form the interstitial space boundaries. The deformations of these boundaries are predicted from previously published data on the elastic properties of the boundary materials. The analysis gives the relationships among the elastic properties of the boundaries, the compliance of the interstitium, the lung volume, and the lung elastic recoil pressure. Values of the interstitial compliance are predicted to decrease with increasing lung recoil pressure and are dependent on the lung pressure-volume history. At low recoil pressures over 70% of the interstitial compliance results from deformation of the parenchyma. As the recoil pressure increases, either with increasing lung volume or due to the lung pressure-volume history, the contributions of the parenchymal and vascular wall deformations become similar. The predictions are generally consistent with published data on interstitial compliance obtained from measurements of isolated lung weight gain during vascular fluid transudation. This correlation suggests that the elastic behavior of the interstitial space can be accounted for by the known elastic properties of the boundary materials.