Reduction and accumulation of methylene blue by the lung. J Appl Physiol (1985) 1994 Sep;77(3):1480-91
Date
09/01/1994Pubmed ID
7836156DOI
10.1152/jappl.1994.77.3.1480Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0028041463 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 19 CitationsAbstract
We studied the disposition of methylene blue added to the perfusate passing through isolated perfused rabbit lungs. Experiments were carried out in a recirculating or single-pass mode, the latter with either a steady infusion or bolus injection of the dye in its blue oxidized form (MB+) or in its colorless reduced leukomethylene blue form (MBH). The recirculation experiments revealed that the dye was taken up by the lungs and that a substantial fraction (approximately 16%) of the MB+ entering the pulmonary artery was reduced before it emerged from the pulmonary veins. Sequestration of the dye by the lungs was a relatively slow process, and the blue color of the lungs at a time when there was little dye left in the perfusate suggests that much of the sequestered dye was in the oxidized form. The results from the single-pass bolus and steady infusion experiments suggest that MBH diffuses rapidly between perfusate and tissue and that it is more soluble in the tissue than in the perfusates used in the study. In this context, the concept of "solubility" includes the impact of the rapidly equilibrating associations of the dye with the perfusate albumin and tissue components. The observed characteristics of the disposition of the methylene blue within the lungs and the rapid rate of its reduction on passage through the lungs suggest that it may be useful to evaluate the possibility that changes in reduction, uptake, and/or sequestration rates may reflect alterations in the metabolic function of the lungs.
Author List
Bongard RD, Krenz GS, Linehan JH, Roerig DL, Merker MP, Widell JL, Dawson CAMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsCatalase
Hypoxia
In Vitro Techniques
Lung
Methylene Blue
Oxidation-Reduction
Perfusion
Protein Binding
Pulmonary Circulation
Rabbits
Respiration, Artificial
Serum Albumin, Radio-Iodinated
Superoxide Dismutase