Temporal response of lung impedance after i.v. oleic acid in dogs

We measured total and regional lung impedances in six anaesthetized, paralysed dogs every min for 1 hour immediately following i.v. oleic acid administration. Total lung impedance was assessed from pressure and flow data collected at the airway opening during conventional mechanical ventilation. We obtained regional lung impedance at two sites simultaneously using our recently developed alveolar capsule oscillator technique (Davey, B.L.K. and J.H.T. Bates, 1993, Respir. Physiol. 91:165-182). We found that total lung resistance (RL) increased for the first 15 min in a manner suggestive of an initial bronchoconstrictive event, and then remained stable for the remainder of the hour. EL continued to increase throughout the entire period. In contrast, regional alveolar resistance (RA) increased initially and then returned to baseline, while regional alveolar elastance (EA) remained unchanged. We interpret these results as reflecting an initial transient bronchoconstriction together with a progressive accumulation of oedema in the dependent regions of the lung. This implies that the changes in EL were due mostly to increased heterogeneity of regional ventilation, and that non-dependent lung regions may remain virtually unaffected mechanically even when the overall oedematous changes in lung mechanics are severe.