SUPPLEMENTARY:
Alveolar wall injected with india ink (VHP)

The lung has been fixed in a distended state and the pulmonary artery has been injected with black ink which perfused the capillary bed. No other stain has been used, so that the structure of the alveolar wall cannot be seen.

In normal thin sections of the distended lung (8m), a surface view of the alveolar walls is rarely seen. However in this preparation, thick sections were cut (25m) which allows a surface view of the alveolar wall in some parts of the section. It shows the complex network of the closely set capillaries lying in the alveolar wall. Notice that in many places the space between capillaries is no greater than the width of a capillary.


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