Microradiography of pulmonary arterioles, capillaries, and venules of the rabbit

✍ Scribed by Reeves, John T. ;Leathers, James E. ;Quigley, Mervyn B.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1965
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 908 KB
• Volume: 151
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-276X
• DOI: 10.1002/ar.1091510404

✦ Synopsis

Pulmonary vessels of excised rabbit lungs were injected with a suspension of barium sulfate in gelatin. Slices 50 I*. thick were radiographed at 5 kv and 2 ma using high resolution spectroscopic plates. When these plates were viewed through a microscclpe, pulmonary arterioles, venules and capillaries were identified. Arterioles show relatively regular branching at right angles. The capillary bed fills from short (10-20 p long), thin (10-15 fi diameter) precapillaries arising at right angles from arterioles. The alveolar capillary network freely communicates with networks of adjacent alveoli. Several capillaries draining alveolar nets usually join forming a vessel which is broader at its origin than its insertion into a venule. These vessels, designated collecting venules join the venule at acute angles. Clear differentiation of small venous vessels from adjacent small arterial vessels is possible. The capillary network between a n arteriole and venule appears to span at least two alveoli.