Measurement of Lung Vessel and Epithelial Permeability In Vivo with Evans Blue.

Lung fluid balance is maintained in part by the barriers formed by the pulmonary microvasculature and alveolar epithelium. Failure of either of these barriers leads to pulmonary edema, which limits lung function and exacerbates the severity of acute lung injury. Here we describe a method using Evans Blue dye to simultaneously measure the function of vascular and epithelial barriers of murine lungs in vivo.