Pulmonary arterial elasticity in awake dogs

We measured the relationship between pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa), diameter (D), and length of a segment of the main pulmonary artery (MPA) in chronically instrumented conscious dogs breathing spontaneously (CCC). There were no physiologically significant changes in Ppa or D in the CCC dogs postoperatively, and the cross-sectional MPA shape measured by fast computed tomography was nearly circular. These results suggest that the MPA was not distorted by chronic instrumentation. We compared measurements made in the CCC dogs with previous measurements in acutely instrumented anesthetized dogs with open chests (AAO). The elasticity of MPA in the CCC animals was frequency dependent between 1 and 14 Hz and was similar to that in the AAO dogs. Oscillations of D preceded Ppa at cardiac frequencies in the AAO animals, but the D and Ppa oscillations were in phase in the CCC animals. The oscillations of length relative to D were significantly less in the CCC than in the AAO dogs. We conclude that, with limitations, the hemodynamic properties of the MPA can be measured in the CCC subjects. We suggest that the discrepancies between the AAO and CCC dogs can be attributed to differences in extrinsic loading of the MPA.