Conservation of bronchiolar wall area during constriction and dilation of human airways
Mitchell, R. W., E. Rühlmann, H. Magnussen, N. M. Muñoz, A. R. Leff, and K. F. Rabe. Conservation of bronchiolar wall area during constriction and dilation of human airways. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(3): 954–958, 1997.—We assessed the effect of smooth muscle contraction and relaxation on airway lumen subtended by the internal perimeter ( A i) and total cross-sectional area ( A o) of human bronchial explants in the absence of the potential lung tethering forces of alveolar tissue to test the hypothesis that bronchoconstriction results in a comparable change of A iand A o. Luminal area (i.e., A i) and A owere measured by using computerized videomicrometry, and bronchial wall area was calculated accordingly. Images on videotape were captured; areas were outlined, and data were expressed as internal pixel number by using imaging software. Bronchial rings were dissected in 1.0- to 1.5-mm sections from macroscopically unaffected areas of lungs from patients undergoing resection for carcinoma, placed in microplate wells containing buffered saline, and allowed to equilibrate for 1 h. Baseline, A o[5.21 ± 0.354 (SE) mm2], and A i(0.604 ± 0.057 mm2) were measured before contraction of the airway smooth muscle (ASM) with carbachol. Mean A inarrowed by 0.257 ± 0.052 mm2in response to 10 μM carbachol ( P = 0.001 vs. baseline). Similarly, A onarrowed by 0.272 ± 0.110 mm2in response to carbachol ( P = 0.038 vs. baseline; P = 0.849 vs. change in A i). Similar parallel changes in cross-sectional area for A iand A owere observed for relaxation of ASM from inherent tone of other bronchial rings in response to 10 μM isoproterenol. We demonstrate a unique characteristic of human ASM; i.e., both luminal and total cross-sectional area of human airways change similarly on contraction and relaxation in vitro, resulting in a conservation of bronchiolar wall area with bronchoconstriction and dilation.