Gas physical properties and respiratory system resistance measured by flow interruption

If the flow of gas at the airway opening of a tracheostomized dog is suddenly interrupted during expiration, the airway pressure exhibits a sudden very rapid rise, called delta Pinit, which has been shown previously to equal the resistive pressure drop across the airways in open-chest dogs, and to have a significant additional contribution from the tissues of the chest wall in intact dogs. In the present study we attempted to separate the contributions of airways and tissues to delta Pinit in intact dogs by performing flow interruptions with the lungs full of gas mixtures having different physical properties. A Moody plot (the Friction coefficient calculated using delta Pinit versus the Reynolds number) had a marked negative slope at Reynolds numbers up to 5 x 10(4), whereas the plot is predicted to have a slope close to zero at Reynolds numbers greater than 4 x 10(3) on the basis of purely fluid dynamic considerations. Assuming delta Pinit to be the result of a linear dependence of airway resistance on flow and a constant tissue resistance, we were able to account for the negative slope of the Moody plot. We also found that the values of airway and tissue resistances estimated from the data were very close to those estimated by more direct means in a previous study of delta Pinit. We conclude that it is possible to discern the separate effects of airway and tissue resistances in delta Pinit at high Reynolds numbers.