Effects of lung inflation on airway and tissue responses to aerosol histamine

The pulmonary effects of aerosol histamine exposure include an increase in pulmonary resistance (RL) and a decrease in dynamic compliance (Cdyn). These changes are substantially reversed by inflation of the lungs to 30 cmH2O transpulmonary pressure (TLC). Although histamine has been shown to change both the airway and tissue components of RL and Cdyn, it is not known whether lung inflation reverses the changes in airways, in tissue, or in both. We studied six anesthetized, paralyzed, open-chest dogs. We sequentially measured RL and Cdyn during oscillations in lung volume at 0.6 Hz with the airway open and during compression-decompression of the lungs without tracheal airflow. In the control state after saline aerosol, inflation to TLC resulted in a slight increase in compliance and a decrease in the tissue component of RL. Aerosol histamine exposure caused an increase in resistance and a decrease in compliance due to both airway and tissue changes. Inflation of the lungs to TLC largely reversed the changes due to airway constriction without consistently affecting the changes due to tissue. We conclude that after histamine exposure smooth muscle responsible for airway narrowing is stretched by lung inflation but that contractile elements responsible for alterations in air-space distensibility and hysteresis of dynamic lung recoil are either not stretched by lung inflation or are stretched and shorten again rapidly.