Cor pulmonale in experimental lung emphysema. I. The morphometric evaluation of pulmonary and myocardium changes

Selected morphometric parameters of the lungs and heart of rats with experimental emphysema caused by a proteolytic enzyme--papain have been presented. The morphometric evaluation was carried out after the 1st, 3rd and 6th months following an intratracheal infusion of papain solution. It was found that administration of the papain caused emphysematous changes in the lungs, which intensity measured morphometricly increased until the third month, and then became stable. The first evidence of the right ventricle hypertrophy appeared already in the third month of the experiment. The evident hypertrophy of the muscle of both ventricles and of the interventricular septum was observed after six months of the experiment. Morphologic changes developing in both ventricles suggest an existence of a common pathogenetic factor affecting simultaneously the myocardium of right and left heart ventricles.