Lung structure and elastic recoil properties in hereditary diabetes mellitus in KK-mice, C57 black mice, and F1 hybrids.

To separate the effects of diabetes and inheritance on morphometric characteristics of the lung and on the variables of the pressure-volume relationship, the lungs of KK mice--a genetic model of adult-onset diabetes--were compared with the lungs of normal C57 black mice and of F1 hybrids by multivariate analysis. Hybrid mouse lungs contain more air per gram of lung tissue at total lung capacity (TLC) than the lungs of other mice (p < 0.0002) and have a lower recoil pressure at 30% to 70% of TLC. Morphometric data revealed that both the mean linear intercept and the number of alveoli per unit volume in hybrid mice fell between those in KK and C57 mice. However, the total number of alveoli per lung in hybrid mice was 155% of that in KK mice and 148% of that in C57 mice, reflecting the larger lung volume of hybrid mice. The alveolar wall thickness of the hybrids was similar to that of C57 mice, whereas KK mice had thicker alveolar walls than the other two groups. Multivariate analysis revealed that body weight, wet lung weight, volume density of blood vessels, mean linear intercept, and transpulmonary pressure at 90% TLC were affected by diabetes alone; however, the following parameters were affected by both inheritance and diabetes: lung volume, specific lung volume, femur length, volume density of alveolar air, surface area, surface to volume ratio, number of alveoli per lung, lung air per gram of lung tissue, and transpulmonary pressure at 20% to 80% TLC.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)