Effect of surface tension on alveolar surface area

1 Harvard Medical School, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital, 2 Physiology Program, Harvard School of Public Health, and 3 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; and 4 Harvard College and 5 Harvard Extension School, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 At fixed lung volume (V L ), alterations in surface tension change alveolar surface area (S) and lung recoil (P L ). Wilson (26), using data from fixed lungs (1, 9), quantified the isovolume change in S with P L . We reexamined this question in fresh excised rabbit lungs, with two important differences. First, we measured fractional changes in S by using diffuse light scattering, avoiding the potential upset of the balance of tissue and surface forces during fixation. Second, we altered surface tension by ventilating the lungs with nebulized polydimethylsiloxane, with much less residual fluid compared with lavage. We found that S decreased at low and mid V L (treatment surface tension > control) by about half of Wilson's estimates and was nearly unaffected by treatment at high V L . This suggests that with increased surface tension there is 1 ) greater septal retraction in lungs fixed by vascular perfusion compared with unfixed lungs and 2 ) a greater increase in P L and less loss of S than would have been predicted. lung; mechanics; lung recoil