Allometric analysis of the morphometric pulmonary diffusing capacity in dogs.

The lung volume, the morphometrically determined alveolar and capillary surface area, and the capillary volume of 27 dogs (weight 2.65-57 kg) all were linearly correlated with body weight. The thickness of the air-blood barrier increased only slightly with increasing body size. The structural diffusing capacity, containing these parameters, was used to estimate the gas exchange capabilities of the lung and was also found to scale in direct proportion to body size. This coincides with reports on physiologically estimated diffusing capacity but is obviously different from the interspecies slope for metabolism which scales to the 3/4 power of body weight.