Regional lung volume trajectories during expiratory flow in dogs

Gravity effects on regional lung ventilation determined by functional EIT during parabolic flights

Gravity-dependent changes of regional lung function were studied during normogravity, hypergravity, and microgravity induced by parabolic flights. Seven healthy subjects were followed in the right lateral and supine postures during tidal breathing, forced vital capacity, and slow expiratory vital capacity maneuvers. Regional 1) lung ventilation, 2) lung volumes, and 3) lung emptying behavior were studied in a transverse thoracic plane by functional electrical impedance tomography (EIT). The results showed gravity-dependent changes of regional lung ventilation parameters. A significant effect of gravity on regional functional residual capacity with a rapid lung volume redistribution during the gravity transition phases was established. The most homogeneous functional residual capacity distribution was found at microgravity. During vital capacity and forced vital capacity in the right lateral posture, the decrease in lung volume on expiration was larger in the right lung region at all gravity phases. During tidal breathing, the differences in ventilation magnitudes between the right and left lung regions were not significant in either posture or gravity phase. A significant nonlinearity of lung emptying was determined at normogravity and hypergravity. The pattern of lung emptying was homogeneous during microgravity.

Force heterogeneity in a two-dimensional network model of lung tissue elasticity

We have developed a model of forces developed in lung tissue in which the stress-bearing units are heterogeneous. Each element of the fiber network is composed of an idealized elastin and collagen element in parallel. Elastin is represented by linear springs and collagen by stiff strings that extend without resistance until taut. The model can quantitatively account for the nonlinear shape of the length-tension curve of lung tissue strips when the knee lengths of the collagen fibers are distributed according to an inverse power law. The novel feature of this model is that as macroscopic strain increases the load is carried by progressively fewer elements with progressively higher forces, and preferential pathways of force transmission emerge within the matrix. The topology of these self-organizing pathways of force transmission takes the rough appearance of cracks, but, unlike real cracks, they represent the locus of force concentration rather than force release.

Multiple-breath washin of helium and sulfur hexafluoride in sustained microgravity

We performed multiple-breath washouts of N2 and simultaneous washins of He and SF6 with fixed tidal volume (approximately 1,250 ml) and preinspiratory lung volume (approximately the subject's functional residual capacity in the standing position) in four normal subjects (mean age 40 yr) standing and supine in normal gravity (1 G) and during exposure to sustained microgravity (microG). The primary objective was to examine the influence of diffusive processes on the residual, nongravitational ventilatory inhomogeneity in the lung in microG. We calculated several indexes of convective ventilatory inhomogeneity from each gas species. A normal degree of ventilatory inhomogeneity was seen in the standing position at 1 G that was largely unaltered in the supine position. When we compared the standing position in 1 G with microG, there were reductions in phase III slope in all gases, consistent with a reduction in convection-dependent inhomogeneity in the lung in microG, although considerable convective inhomogeneity persisted in microG. The reductions in the indexes of convection-dependent inhomogeneity were greater for He than for SF6, suggesting that the distances between remaining nonuniformly ventilated compartments in microG were short enough for diffusion of He to be an effective mechanism to reduce gas concentration differences between them.

A distributed nonlinear model of lung tissue elasticity

We present a theory relating the static stress-strain properties of lung tissue strips to the stress-bearing constituents, collagen and elastin. The fiber pair is modeled as a Hookean spring (elastin) in parallel with a nonlinear string element (collagen), which extends to a maximum stop length. Based on a series of fiber pairs, we develop both analytical and numerical models with distributed constituent properties that account for nonlinear tissue elasticity. The models were fit to measured stretched stress-strain curves of five uniaxially stretched tissue strips, each from a different dog lung. We found that the distributions of stop length and spring stiffness follow inverse power laws, and we hypothesize that this results from the complex fractal-like structure of the constituent fiber matrices in lung tissue. We applied the models to representative pressure-volume (PV) curves from patients with normal, emphysematous, and fibrotic lungs. The PV curves were fit to the equation V = A--Bexp(-KP), where V is volume, P is transpulmonary pressure, and A, B, and K are constants. Our models lead to a possible mechanistic explanation of the shape factor K in terms of the structural organization of collagen and elastin fibers.