Pulmonary Ventilation and Diffusion in the Human Newborn Infant1

Abstract

Direct ventilatory and gas diffusion studies were carried out on 31 normal newborn human infants utilizing a double Donald-Christie box arrangement with a 500 ml counterbalanced spirometer interposed between the boxes and small "J" type one-way valves connected to a tightly fitting lucite mask between the neoprene bags. Diffusion capacity was measured using the Filley Steady-state CO method. Blood samples were obtained from the femoral artery. CO uptake, VA, MV, 02 uptake, and Dco increased with increases in body weight. CO and O2 uptake correlated well with alveolar ventilation and CO uptake correlated well with O2 uptake.