White blood cell adhesion to endothelium and rheological behavior in microvessels of overinflated frog's lung.

The flow behaviors of white blood cells (WBCs) in frog's pulmonary microvessels were recorded and analyzed by means of a microscope-TV camera system. When the flow velocity in arterioles was reduced to a level lower than 1 mm/sec by a moderate overinflation of the exposed lung, WBCs rolled on the endothelial surface, frequently came in contact with the capillary orifice and passed it quickly without deformation. The time length which was required for WBCs to pass through the capillary orifice was shorter than the time length for red blood cells. This observation suggested that WBCs were no hinderance to blood delivery from arterioles to the capillary network in the normal and moderate overinflation of the lung. However, when the lung was strongly overinflated and the center line flow velocity was reduced to 0.1 mm/sec, WBCs adhered to the endothelium in ten minutes. The adhering WBCs could not be detached by the recovery of the blood flow. It seemed probable that a large shear stress up to 100 to 200 dynes/cm2 was necessary to pull down the interaction between the adhering WBCs and the endothelium.