[Structure of the interalveolar wall].
The wall, which unites as well as separates two contiguous pulmonary alveoli is composed of: - a conjuntival partition, the veritable skeleton of the wall, which is occupied, to the largest extent, by capillary blood vessels. Between the capillaries, conjunctival cells are dispursed: fibrocytes, fibroblasts and histiocytes, of which some can be mobilised, transformed into macrophages, and penetrate into the alveolar lumen; - modified epithelial cells, whose very thin, vast expansions cover the conjunctival partition; - a liquid film, 0.2 mu in thickness, which separates the epithelial cells, or pneumocytes from the alveolar air. Numerous physiological implications result from this organisation.
[Structure of the interalveolar wall]. The wall, which unites as well as separates two contiguous pulmonary alveoli is composed of: - a conjuntival partition, the veritable skeleton of the wall, which is occupied, to the largest extent, by capillary blood vessels. Between the capillaries, conjunctival cells are dispursed: fibrocytes, fibroblasts and histiocytes, of which some can be mobilised, transformed into macrophages, and penetrate into the alveolar lumen; - modified epithelial cells, whose very thin, vast expansions cover the conjunctival partition; - a liquid film, 0.2 mu in thickness, which separates the epithelial cells, or pneumocytes from the alveolar air. Numerous physiological implications result from this organisation.