Lung lymphatics cast from the airspace.

Lymphatics are important in the resolution of pulmonary edema, but which lymphatics drain alveolar fluid and how they change during lung injury and edema is uncertain. To study this question 16 rats were exposed to 85% O2 for 7 days. At 0, 3, 7, and 14 days after removal from the hyperoxic chamber, the lungs of the rats were cast by instilling methyl methacrylate into the trachea. The lungs of four similar room-air breathing rats served as controls. Tissue was taken for light microscopy and the casts were examined for lymphatic filling with a scanning electron microscope. Rats exposed to hyperoxia had diffuse damage and extensive edema. On removal from hyperoxia (day 0), 29% of the rat bronchioles had saccular lymphatic casts around them and 6% of bronchioles were surrounded by these lymphatics. Twenty-five percent of bronchioles had conduit lymphatic casts. Fourteen percent of arteries had lymphatic casts around them. All were different from the rats kept in room air (P < 0.0001). Rats exposed to hyperoxia had lymphatics on the pleural surface, near alveoli and alveolar ducts, and around veins. The peribronchial and periarterial saccular lymphatics formed separate groups with communicating conduit lymphatics. The perivenous lymphatics had their own separate conduit lymphatics. Fourteen days after returning to ambient air, the lymphatics were similar to those of control animals. In this model, airway casting allows three-dimensional analysis of the lung lymphatics. It shows that lymphatic compartments expand during hyperoxic lung injury and that peribronchial and perivascular saccular lymphatics connect to conduit lymphatics of the bronchoalveolar bundle.

Lung lymphatics increase after hyperoxic injury. An ultrastructural study of casts.

The microscopic lymphatics of the lung can be cast and studied with scanning electron microscopy. This technique shows several different forms of lymphatics and the interstitial space that leads into lymphatics as no other method can. To study changes in lymphatic forms, rats were placed in 85% oxygen for 7 days to produce pulmonary edema. Methyl methacrylate resin was injected into the lung vasculature at various times after the animals were removed from hyperoxia. In the animals not exposed to hyperoxia, no artery, vein, or airway was surrounded by a lymphatic cast. However, in rats that were in the hyperoxic chamber, 22% of arteries, 30% of veins, and 51% of indeterminate blood vessels (which could be arteries or veins) were encompassed by saccular lymphatic casts. These lymphatics were still observed 7 days after recovery from hyperoxia. Fourteen days after hyperoxia, the lymphatics returned to control values. Only 9% of the pleural surface of the animals not exposed to hyperoxia had initial lymphatics. Fifty-two percent of the hyperoxia-exposed animals had initial lymphatics, measured 3 days after exposure. This decreased to 14% 14 days after exposure to hyperoxia (P < 0.01). Conduit lymphatics were found on the pleural surfaces of 33% of animals exposed to ambient air and 100% of animals exposed to the high-oxygen environment (P < 0.05). The median percentage of the pleural surface covered with lymphatics was 0 in the animals exposed to ambient air. It was 65% in animals exposed to hyperoxia, 3 days after returning to room air. It was again 0 in animals exposed to hyperoxia, 14 days after returning to room air (P < 0.001). The lymphatics around veins expanded more than around arteries (P < 0.0001). These results indicate that in the rat all compartments of the lung lymphatics expand after the injury and edema caused by oxygen and return to normal with the resolution of the edema.