Postural drainage of respiratory tract fluid in phosgene-induced pulmonary oedema.

Abstract

Abstract Cats and dogs were given phosgene by inhalation at a dose in the range of the LD50. During the hour or two before death, the volume output of respiratory tract fluid increased some 30-fold in half the animals and its lipid and sodium chloride contents were similar to those of blood plasma. Postural pulmonary drainage did not augment the volume output of respiratory tract fluid nor consistently affect chemical or histological measurements upon the lungs and chemical measurements upon respiratory tract fluid and blood. Postural pulmonary drainage did not increase the survival rate of intact rats exposed to phosgene. The ability of the animals to excrete such large volumes of respiratory tract fluid appeared to be due to a marked reserve capacity of the ciliary drainage mechanism which was evidently not affected by the dose of phosgene given to these animals.