Trapped air in ventilated excised rat lungs.

Degassed excised rat lungs were ventilated in a water-filled plethysmograph with the carina as the zero pressure reference. Pressure-volume curves were recorded from a minimum transpulmonary pressure (Pmin) of -5 cmH2O to a maximum pressure (Pmin) of 30 cmH2O. An index of the minimun volume for the lung (Vm) divided by the maximum lung volume for the same cycle (Vmax) was used as an index of the amount of air trapped within the lung. As the flow rate was decreased from 38.2 to 1.9 ml/min, there were significant increases in the amount of air trapped in the lung. As the maximum pressure was decreased to 25 and 20 cmH2O, or the minimum pressure was increased to 6 and 11 cmH2O, the amount of trapped air in the lung significantly decreased. The rate of lung inflation had a much greater influence on the amount of trapped air than either the deflation rate or stress relaxation. The results are consistent with the theory that bubbles are formed during inflation and are the main cause of air trapped in the excised lung.