Increases in lung lymph and albumin clearance with ethchlorvynol.

We studied anesthetized dogs with right lymph duct (RLD) preparations and measured lymph flow, albumin concentrations in lymph (L) and plasma (P), pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP). Intravenous (iv) injection of ethchlorvynol (15-25 mg/kg) was followed by significant (p less than 0.02) increases in right lymph duct flow from 0.9 +/- 0.3 to 5.4 +/- 1.6 ml/h with stable PAP, PCWP, and L/P albumin (0.8 +/- 0.05 and 0.9 +/- 0.1). Similar results in RLD flow were obtained in dogs given 1) diphenhydramine, 3 mg/kg iv loading dose and 1.5 mg.kg-1 .h -1 infusion; 2) indomethacin, 4 gm/kg iv loading dose and 4 mg.kg-1h-1 infusion; 3) methylprednisolone, 30 mg/kg iv; 4) cyclophosphamide (40 mg/kg iv) to induce leukopenia (900 WBC/mm3) prior to ethchlorvynol injection. Cardiac lymph flow increased also and cardiac L/P albumin remained stable. Total hemolytic complement remained normal. We conclude that lung vascular permeability is increased following ethchlorvynol injection. Ethchlorvynol may have a direct effect on lung vascular permeability since, unlike other experimental models, complement activation, leukocytes, prostaglandins, and histamine play insignificant roles. A "final common pathway" may not exist for all forms of increased permeability pulmonary edema.