Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The American Journal of Pathology logoLink to The American Journal of Pathology
. 1988 Jan;130(1):126–135.

Capillary structure in elastase-induced emphysema.

D E Schraufnagel 1, A Schmid 1
PMCID: PMC1880557  PMID: 3337208

Abstract

The essential component of pulmonary emphysema is destruction of alveoli. Because capillaries make up much of the alveolar wall, it has been a long-held opinion that capillary loss in this disease parallels the loss of other elements of the alveolar septum. Yet the nature of the damage to capillaries and the occurrence of microvascular remodeling are unknown. Scanning electron microscopy of vascular casts of lungs from rats given intratracheal elastase were studied for identifying capillary changes in this type of experimental emphysema. The pressure-volume curves showed a clear distinction between the elastase and saline control animals, and light microscopy showed alveolar enlargement consistent with mild emphysema. The casts of capillaries in the elastase lungs appeared to have larger alveolar baskets, and capillaries ended abruptly near areas of focally destroyed lung. The elastase animals had more nonconnecting capillary segments on the pleural surface where the emphysema was worse and folds in the capillaries were more pronounced, suggesting weakened alveolar walls. The capillary density was decreased on the pleural surface, although this decrease could have resulted from hyperinflation. No difference in capillary diameters or branching frequency occurred. It appears that in this model of emphysema, decreased elastic recoil occurs before diffuse loss of capillaries.

Full text

PDF
126

Images in this article

128Figure 1
on p.128
130Figure 3
on p.130
131Figure 4
on p.131
131Figure 5
on p.131
132Figure 6
on p.132
132Figure 7
on p.132
133Figure 8
on p.133

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Colebatch H. J., Ng C. K., Nikov N. Use of an exponential function for elastic recoil. J Appl Physiol Respir Environ Exerc Physiol. 1979 Feb;46(2):387–393. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1979.46.2.387. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Crapo R. O., Crapo J. D., Morris A. H. Lung tissue and capillary blood volumes by rebreathing and morphometric techniques. Respir Physiol. 1982 Aug;49(2):175–186. doi: 10.1016/0034-5687(82)90072-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hayes J. A., Korthy A., Snider G. L. The pathology of elastase-induced panacinar emphysema in hamsters. J Pathol. 1975 Sep;117(1):1–14. doi: 10.1002/path.1711170102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Karlinsky J., Fredette J., Davidovits G., Catanese A., Snider R., Faris B., Snider G. L., Franzblau C. The balance of lung connective tissue elements in elastase-induced emphysema. J Lab Clin Med. 1983 Aug;102(2):151–162. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kawakami M., Paul J. L., Thurlbeck W. M. The effect of age on lung structure in male BALB/cNNia inbred mice. Am J Anat. 1984 May;170(1):1–21. doi: 10.1002/aja.1001700102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kuhn C., 3rd, Tavassoli F. The scanning electron microscopy of elastase-induced emphysema. A comparison with emphysema in man. Lab Invest. 1976 Jan;34(1):2–9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kuhn C., Yu S. Y., Chraplyvy M., Linder H. E., Senior R. M. The induction of emphysema with elastase. II. Changes in connective tissue. Lab Invest. 1976 Apr;34(4):372–380. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Morris S. M., Stone P. J., Snider G. L., Albright J. T., Franzblau C. Ultrastructural changes in hamster lung four hours to twenty-four days after exposure to elastase. Anat Rec. 1981 Nov;201(3):523–535. doi: 10.1002/ar.1092010309. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ohtani O. Microvasculature of the rat lung as revealed by scanning electron microscopy of corrosion casts. Scan Electron Microsc. 1980;(3):349–356. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. REID A., HEARD B. E. Preliminary studies of human pulmonary capillaries by India ink injection. Med Thorac. 1962;19:215–219. doi: 10.1159/000192221. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Schraufnagel D. E., Mehta D., Harshbarger R., Treviranus K., Wang N. S. Capillary remodeling in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Am J Pathol. 1986 Oct;125(1):97–106. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schraufnagel D. E., Roussos C., Macklem P. T., Wang N. S. The geometry of the microvascular bed of the diaphragm: comparison to intercostals and triceps. Microvasc Res. 1983 Nov;26(3):291–306. doi: 10.1016/0026-2862(83)90078-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Snider G. L., Lucey E. C., Stone P. J. Animal models of emphysema. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1986 Jan;133(1):149–169. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1986.133.1.149. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. The definition of emphysema. Report of a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Division of Lung Diseases workshop. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1985 Jul;132(1):182–185. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1985.132.1.182. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Thurlbeck W. M. Measurement of pulmonary emphysema. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1967 May;95(5):752–764. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1967.95.5.752. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The American Journal of Pathology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Investigative Pathology

RESOURCES