Lung water and capillary permeability in pulmonary sarcoid-like granulomatosis

The subject of our research was the use of multiple indicators to study the lungs of rats during a pathological process induced by complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). The parameters studied were extravascular water (idQwl), the capillary permeability of [14C]sucrose, and the unrecovered fraction of [3H5glucose. We ascertained that idQwl gives a valuable estimate of total pulmonary water (r=0.91, n=30) and allows a satisfactory quantification of granulomatosis, as is shown by the comparison between the values of idQwl measured at different stages of the lesional process with average number of nodules per slice of right middle pulmonary lobe. The capillary permeability of sucrose is normal both at early and late stages of the CFA granulomatosis process. The fraction of [3H]glucose not recovered increases significantly (p less than 0.001) during the initial stage of the CFA process. This apparent loss of indicator can be explained by the existence of a slow cellular compartment.