Lung to blood passage of albumin and a nonapeptide after intratracheal instillation in the young developing pig.

The passage via the lower respiratory tract of the macromolecule, bovine serum albumin (BSA, mol. wt = 67000) and the nonapeptide, 1-deaminocysteine-8-D-arginine vasopressin (dDAVP, mol. wt = 1067), was assessed for 240 h after intratracheal instillation in young, developing pigs. The plasma levels of immunoreactive BSA increased with time, reaching a maximum between 36-86 h after instillation, and the main portion of BSA in plasma appeared intact, as assessed by crossed immunoelectrophoresis. The dDAVP levels reached a maximum after 1-3 h. The time to reach maximal plasma levels increased with the age of the pig for BSA, while no such effect was observed for dDAVP. The total lung passage, as calculated by dividing the area under the plasma level-time curve obtained after intratracheal instillation with that obtained after intravenous administration (elimination curve), showed no significant differences with age for BSA (21.8 +/- 9.0% in the newborn, 15.1 +/- 8.0% in the 2-day-old and 16.1 +/- 4.2% in the 70-day-old pigs). For dDAVP, a significant decrease in the total passage was obtained with age, from 74.6 +/- 9.4% in the newborn pigs to 44.1 +/- 13.3%, in the 2-day-old pigs (P < 0.001), and to 23.6 +/- 7.1% (P < 0.01) in the 70-day-old pigs. The study showed that the marker molecules, BSA and dDAVP, passed over the porcine lung into the blood circulation in high amounts, apparently inversely related to their molecular size. The total lung passage of dDAVP, but not that of BSA, was affected by changes with age, indicating that these two markers might traverse the lung epithelium via different routes that are differently affected during postnatal development.