Abstract

Understanding how the alveolar mechanics work in live lungs is essential for comprehending how the lung behaves during breathing. Due to the lack of appropriate imaging tools, previous research has suggested that alveolar morphologies are polyhedral rather than spherical based on a 2D examination of alveoli in fixed lungs. Here, we directly observe high-resolution 3D alveoli in live mice lungs utilizing synchrotron x-ray microtomography to show spherical alveolar morphologies from the live lungs. Our measurements from x-ray microtomography show high sphericity, low packing density, big alveolar size, and low osmotic pressure, indicating that spherical alveolar morphologies are natural in living lungs. The alveolar packing fraction is quite low in live lungs, where the spherical alveoli would behave like free bubbles, while the confinement of alveolar clusters in fixed lungs would lead to significant morphological deformations of the alveoli appearing polyhedral. Direct observations of the spherical alveolar shapes will help understand and treat lung disease and ventilation.

Details

Title
Spherical alveolar shapes in live mouse lungs
Author
Kim, Min Woo 1 ; Weon, Byung Mook 2 ; Je, Jung Ho 3 

 Pohang University of Science and Technology, School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, Pohang, South Korea (GRID:grid.49100.3c) (ISNI:0000 0001 0742 4007) 
 Sungkyunkwan University, Soft Matter Physics Laboratory, School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Suwon, South Korea (GRID:grid.264381.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 2181 989X); Core Research Institute, Research Center for Advanced Materials Technology, Suwon, South Korea (GRID:grid.264381.a) 
 Pohang University of Science and Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang, South Korea (GRID:grid.49100.3c) (ISNI:0000 0001 0742 4007); Nanoblesse Research Lab., Pohang, South Korea (GRID:grid.49100.3c) 
Pages
5319
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2793281924
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.