What condition is caused when salt water entering the alveoli pulls fluid out of the vascular system, flooding the air sacs?
Answer
pulmonary edema
Salt water possesses a higher solute concentration than human blood plasma. Upon reaching the alveoli, the principles of osmosis dictate that the body attempts to equalize this concentration difference. To achieve this equilibrium, fluid is rapidly pulled out of the vascular system—the blood vessels—and shifts into the air sacs (alveoli) within the lungs. This movement causes severe pulmonary edema, a condition characterized by the lungs filling with fluid. This flooding drastically reduces the available surface area necessary for efficient gas exchange between the blood and the air, simultaneously leading to a concentration of the remaining blood components.
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