Pulmonary capillary and permeability during hemorrhagic shock

Abstract

In previous experiments from this laboratory horseradish peroxidase was used to study the structural and functional characteristics of the normal canine pulmonary capillary membrane. The present study used the same technique to try to determine if any change occurred in the pulmonary capillary as a result of hemorrhagic shock. We found that hemorrhagic shock caused a fall (5 expt) or no change (2 expt) in estimated pulmonary transcapillary pressure based on Starling's equation. However, lymphatic flow from the lungs increased. Estimated of filtration coefficients showed a highly significant increase (P less than 0.01) during the hypotensive period. Pulmonary lymphatic protein concentrations were not altered, indicating that water and protein continued to traverse the membrane in the same proportions as under normotensive conditions. These data are consistent with recent observations of minimal changes in the intercellular junctions of the capillary endothelium following hemorrhagic shock made independently on lung tissue from these experiments.