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PULMONARY MODELS 
that for the type of lesion he's observing, what 
is needed, at this time, is to know what hap- 
pened to the tryptophan in the lung and whether 
it has been metabolized or not. 
Dr. Kainer: Dr. Dickinson at Wahington 
State is working on this. He's looking for sero- 
tonin. We have a little sleeper here. I left it 
until now. After three, six, twelve, and twenty- 
four hours, we found an increase in tryptophan 
in the urine. I haven't done enough to report on 
it yet. 
Burling, Howard University: I was in- 
terested in what you had to say about terpenes. 
I published previously on turpentine toxicity. 
When it's given orally, but not by inhalation, 
there is a great deal of lung damage. 
J. R. Gillespie, University of California, 
Davis : I'm curious as to what the vascular re- 
sponse is in these animals as compared to the 
high altitude bovine disease, brisket disease. 
In other words, I've always been sort of struck 
by the possibility that the initial insult may be 
very similar — severe pulmonary hypertension. 
In that case, it would be interesting to compare 
your high altitude cattle with low altitude cattle 
in Washington. 
Dr. Kainer: This is a good thought. Dr. 
Card, who is on the project and was concerned 
mainly with this aspect of it, has considered 
this. Of course, we are ambient there at Fort 
Collins, at a little over 5,000 feet. Now, some of 
the cows might have been at six or seven thou- 
sand. Up on the high plains, it's easy to reach 
10,000 feet in altitude. We have entertained the 
idea of putting a cow in the chamber and really 
taking her up. 
J. C. Norman, Boston City College, Mas- 
sachusetts : This may be pure naivete, but could 
I ask you how you feel this works? Has there 
been any labeled tryptophan given? Does it 
elicit a positive inotropic response? Does it con- 
strict pulmonary capillaries? Does it increase 
the mechanism of the right ventricle ? I have no 
ideas, and I'm not familiar with the area. 
Could you help me? 
Dr. Kainer: I'm pleased that you have the 
question. We're thinking about it, and so is 
Dr. Dickinson's group up at Washington State. 
Perhaps a metabolite of tryptophan is acting on 
the smooth musculature of the bronchioles and/ 
or the vessels. Serotonin of course has trypto- 
phan as its precursor molecule. 
