Pores of Kohn are filled in normal lungs: low-temperature scanning electron microscopy

Interalveolar pores of Kohn, small uniform-sized epithelium-lined openings in alveolar walls of normal lung, have historically been demonstrated with electron-microscopic techniques that remove water. We show these pores to be present but almost invariably filled with material when water and surfactant are preserved in frozen hydrated lung examined with low-temperature scanning electron microscopy. In the normal mouse, 16 open empty pores per alveolus were found in instillation-fixed dried lung vs. less than 1 per alveolus in frozen hydrated lungs (P less than 0.001). In the normal rat, 13 pores were seen per alveolus in instillation-fixed dried lung vs. less than 1 per alveolus in frozen hydrated lungs (P less than 0.001). We suggest that pores of Kohn 1) function primarily as conduits for interalveolar movement of alveolar liquid, surfactant components, and macrophages, 2) provide distributed sites for tubular myelin storage without increasing gas diffusion pathway thickness in the alveolar subphase itself, and 3) do not function as pathways for collateral ventilation during normal breathing in the absence of atelectasis or obstruction.