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Science 1 January 1982:
Vol. 215. no. 4528, pp. 77 - 78
DOI: 10.1126/science.215.4528.77
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Articles

Pulmonary Blood Plasma Filtration in Reptiles: A "Wet" Vertebrate Lung?

WARREN W. BURGGREN 1

1 Zoology Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003

The net loss of plasma from blood into tissues within the ventilated reptile lung is 10 to 20 times greater than that in mammalian lungs. When blood flow is reduced during breathholding by reptiles, the plasma loss stops, and a net reabsorption of fluid from the tissues occurs. Fluid movement dynamics and the relative "dryness" of the lung of reptiles and mammals thus differ in several important respects and reflect the more variable cardiovascular performance of reptiles.

Submitted on May 29, 1981


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