Relating Airway Diameter Distributions to Regular Branching Asymmetry in the Lung

作者：Arnab Majumdar, Adriano Mesquita Alencar, Sergey V. Buldyrev, Zoltán Hantos, Kenneth R. Lutchen, Harry Eugene Stanley, Bélâ Suki · 发表于：Physical Review Letters · 年份：2005 · DOI：10.1103/physrevlett.95.168101 · 被引用次数：67 · 研究领域：Inhalation and Respiratory Drug Delivery、Air Quality Monitoring and Forecasting、Neonatal Respiratory Health Research

We study the distribution Pi(n)(D) of airway diameters D as a function of generation N in asymmetric airway trees of mammalian lungs. We find that the airway bifurcations are self-similar in four species studied. Specifically, the ratios of diameters of the major and minor daughters to their parent are constants independent of N until a cutoff diameter is reached. We derive closed form expressions for Pi(N)(D) and examine the flow resistance of the tree based on an asymmetric flow division model. Our findings suggest that the observed diameter heterogeneity is consistent with an underlying regular branching asymmetry.