Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) is a disease characterized by retention of gas in the intestinal wall. Retention of gas can be caused by three mechanisms; gas entry through the intestinal mucosa, gas dissection from the pulmonary alveoli and bronchi, and gas generation in the mucous membrane. Since gas in cysts is composed almost entirely of nitrogen, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2) i...

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis is characterized by the accumulation of granular proteinaceous material within the alveoli of the lung. It is well established that patients with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis have a high incidence of complicating pulmonary infections, which suggests that the function of the alveolar macrophages is abnormal. To investigate the function of these cells, they were o...

A lveoli are the hallmark of lung structure. In 1959, when I embarked on studies of lung structure that ‘‘should interest physiologists’’, the first question I was asked was ‘‘how many alveoli are there in the human lung?’’ Along with Prof. D. Gomez, I counted alveoli by devising a now obsolete method [1], only to realise that what is of real functional importance is the design of the wall of t...

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rarely seen disease of the alveoli, characterized by accumulation of proteinous material, which stains positive with periodic acid Schiff, in the alveoli. Secondary PAP may develop as a result of occupational exposure to materials such as silica and indium. In the paper, together with a review of the relevant literature, we present an uncommon case of a...

Horse serum, crystallized hemoglobin, and crystallized egg albumin have been injected into the lung alveoli of dogs in which the entrances of the right lymphatics have been tied and the thoracic duct cannulated. Samples of blood and lymph have been taken following this injection. Only after several hours in the case of the horse serum and hemoglobin have these proteins been detected by immunolo...

The subpleural 1)mphatics o f a normal human lung were injected wi th a dilute. greensolored latex solution after the long had been made edematous b) normal saline infusions. The tracheobronchial tree wa\ then filled with a white latex. foUowing which the preparation was submerged i n concentrated H C I to achieve corrosion o f the tissues hlicroscopic d i i t i o n of the model rcbealed that t...

Since alveolar and airway growth have previously been studied in greater detail than has arterial growth, the present study establishes the growth pattern of the arteries and relates this to that of the alveoli and airways. The pattern of post-natal alveolar multiplication found is similar to that reported by Dunnill, but for all ages about 10% above his figure. Alveolar size hardly changes in ...

Investigating the structure and function of pulmonary alveoli in vivo is crucial for understanding the normal and diseased lung. In particular, understanding the three-dimensional geometry and relationship of the terminal alveoli to their neighboring alveoli, alveolar ducts and acini during respiration would be a major advance. However, the lung is an inherently difficult organ to image in vivo...

• In studies of gas exchange between the lung and the pulmonary circulation it is generally assumed that the principal exchange takes place at the level of the pulmonary capillaries. The work presented here shows that some gaseous exchange can occur as well between the lung and vessels of macroscopic size. Hydrogen gas when administered to a subject by inhalation can be detected in the pulmonar...