An improved mathematical model of hydrodynamical self-cleansing of pulmonary alveoli.
In the present paper we postulate a hydrodynamical mechanism of pulmonary alveoli cleansing and explain the role of the lung surfactant system in this phenomenon. Then a new, significantly refined mathematical model of the dynamics of the layer lining alveoli is derived and tested numerically in order to check theoretically whether the mechanism postulated can explain the phenomenon observed and to establish the influence of various physicochemical and physiological parameters on the rate of alveolar cleansing. The results obtained confirmed our hypothesis and two examples of the model verification were also shown.
Podgórski
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Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland.
Gradoń
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D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009079:Mucociliary Clearance / Q000502:physiology*; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000502:physiology*; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000502:physiology*
D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants