Effect of hypercapnia on net filtration of fluid in the lungs of awake newborn lambs.

To study the effect of hypercapnia on net transvascular filtration of fluid in newborn lungs, we measured pulmonary arterial and left pressures and collected lung lymph from 11 awake 2-wk-old lambs as they spontaneously breathed a gas mixture rich in carbon dioxide. After a 2-h control period in air, the lambs breathed 8-11% carbon dioxide mixed with air and nitrogen for 2-6 h. Average pulmonary arterial pressure and blood flow to the lungs increased during hypercapnia, but pulmonary vascular resistance did not change. In all cases, hypercapnia led to an acute transient increase in lymph flow. During sustained hypercapnia, however, flow of lymph was not significantly different from flow measured during the control period. The concentration of protein in lymph decreased at the onset of hypercapnia and remained low during sustained hypercapnia. These results suggest that acute hypercapnia increases net filtration by increasing the transvascular gradient of hydraulic pressure, whereas, in a "steady-state," neither hypercapnia nor the tachypnea that accompanies it alters net transvascular filtration of fluid in the lungs of unanesthetized newborn animals.