Functional Morphology of the Growing Lung

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Abstract
The understanding of pulmonary function immediately after birth and in the weeks following is greatly facilitated if we know the morphological changes accompanying development. As such studies are not easily done on human infants we have performed a number of experimental studies on animals, particularly on the rat. We found by using electron microscopy and morphometric techniques that the gas exchange surfaces and the blood volume increase in such a way as to form a functional apparatus with a diffusing capacity which is proportional to body weight. Hence, the supply of O2 is adequate all through development inspite of drastic transformations of lung structure. In a very recent study we have found that the partial pressure of O2 in the ambient air influences lung growth in the sense that chronic hypoxia leads to a larger gas exchange apparatus, hyperoxia to a smaller one. Lung growth is hence partly dependent on environmental conditions. One of the essential functions of the alveolar epithelium is to provide the alveolar surface with a surfactant coating which reduces surface tension and assures open alveoli: We have recently succeeded in demonstrating this coat as a structural feature by special preparation techniques. The extrapolation of these insights obtained on experimental animals to the human lung is possible on the basis of comparative studies on the morphometry of mammalian lungs.

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