Changes in alveolar septal border lengths with postnatal lung growth

Evaluation of alveolar development beyond the postnatal period of rapid sep tation has generally involved alveolar counting. mie used an alternate appr oach to assess postseptation parenchymal development: measurement of the le ngths of various types of alveolar septal borders. This technique directly addresses changes in the elastin fiber network that determines parenchymal complexity. Lungs from weanling and adult ferrets, inflated to 15 cmH(2)O, were perfusion fixed and dehydrated, and 2-mu m sections were stained with Miller's elastin stain for light microscopy. We used standard morphometric methods to measure the lengths of the various types of alveolar septal bord ers. Three types comprised >90% of all septal borders: I) free septal ends ("ends") containing an elastin cable; 2) angled meetings of two alveolar se pta ("bends"), also with a cable; and 3) the near-symmetrical intersections of three septa ("junctions") devoid of elastin. When scaled for lung volum e, ends and bends were 23 and 37% greater in adults (P < 0.001), reflecting the increase in parenchymal complexity with growth. The 17% difference in scaled junction lengths was not significant (P = 0.10). Bends increased out of proportion to the increase in ends, and both bends and ends increased t o a greater degree than any possible increase in junctions (P < 0.001 for a ll comparisons). Although the interpretation of changes in the distribution of alveolar border lengths is not straightforward, an increase in bends re sulting in an increase in the complexity of individual alveoli may contribu te to the increase in alveolar gas-exchanging surface area with growth. Sep tation, the process responsible for the rapid early postnatal increase in p arenchymal complexity in many species, should tend to increase the lengths of ends and junctions and decrease the lengths of bends. Therefore, these d ata suggest that septation is not the predominant mechanism of later postna tal parenchymal development in the ferret.