The Permeability of Capillaries in Various Organs as Determined by Use of the ‘Indicator Diffusion’ Method

Abstract C rone , C. The permeability of capillaries in various organs as deter‐mined by use of the ‘Indicator Diffusion’ method . Acta physiol. scand. 1963. 58 . 292—305. — The theory of a single injection technique, the ‘Indicator Diffusion’ method, for quantitative studies of capillary permeability is developed. It is shown that the permeability of a capillary area can be expressed by three parameters: the initial extraction ( E ) of test substances added in a single injection to the blood flowing to an organ, the blood flow ( Q ) and the surface area ( A ) of the capillaries. The equation relating these figures is: P = ( =/A ) × log e 1/(1— E ). The permeability coefficients of capillaries in kidney, liver, lung, brain and hind limb to inulin and sucrose are reported. It is found that the permeability of capillaries varies considerably from organ to organ. It is questioned whether the pore model adequately describes the functional characteristics of the capillaries in the muscles. The existence of pores should result in a pronounced deviation of the ratio between the permeability coefficients for sucrose and inulin from the ratio between the free diffusion coefficients. This was not found to be the case.