Effect of methacholine on low-frequency mechanics of canine airways and lung tissue.

We measured tracheal flow, tracheal pressure, and alveolar capsule pressure in four anesthetized paralyzed tracheostomized open-chest dogs. Lung impedance between 0.12 and 4.88 Hz was measured with a forced volume oscillation technique before and after the intravenous administration of methacholine (MCh). Before MCh administration, lung impedance was well described by a model featuring a single airway leading to an alveolar region surrounded by tissue with a continuous distribution of viscoelastic time constants as used by Hantos et al. (J. Appl. Physiol. 68: 849-860, 1990). After MCh, however, this model gave a poor fit to the impedances. The impedances were well accounted for, however, when the model was enhanced to include an extra time constant term, which we suspect is required to account for the uneven ventilation distribution produced by MCh. Airway impedance before MCh administration was well described by a simple resistance-inertance model, but a model incorporating serial inhomogeneity of ventilation was again required after MCh. Our results support those of previous studies indicating that the impedance of the normal dog lung is well described by a homogeneously ventilated viscoelastic tissue model. In contrast, our results after MCh administration show strong evidence of marked regional ventilation inhomogeneity in addition to the rheological properties of the tissues.