Apparent Volumes of Distribution of Water, Electrolytes and Hemoglobin Within the Lung

¹ From the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, Maine; the Department of Medicine, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons; and the Department of Physiology, New York University Medical School, New York Ctiy

The virtual volumes of distribution of water, sodium, chloride and hemoglobin have been measured in the fat-free wet lung of the dog. Even after correction for the red cell content of the lung, it appears that the virtual volumes of distribution of sodium and chloride in the lung are large as compared with other tissues. It is inferred that the sodium and chloride ‘spaces’ include a substantial quantity of fluid lining the alveolar membranes.