title: Fractal branching pattern of the monopodial canine airway.
abstract: Unlike the human lung, monopodial canine airway branching follows an irregular dichotomized pattern with fractal features. We studied three canine airway molds and found a self-similarity feature from macro- to microscopic scales, which formed a fractal set up to seven scales in the airways. At each fractal scale, lateral branches evenly lined up along an approximately straight main trunk to form three to four two-dimensional structures, and each lateral branch was the monopodial main trunk of the next fractal scale. We defined this pattern as the fractal main lateral-branching pattern, which exhibited similar structures from macro- to microscopic scales, including lobes, sublobes, sub-sublobes, etc. We speculate that it, rather than a mother-daughter pattern, could better describe the actual asymmetrical architecture of the monopodial canine airway.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. ping.wang@che.gatech.edu
authors.forename: Ping M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Steve S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kraman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D017709:Fractals; D008168:Lung / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012828:Silicones
chemical_list: D012828:Silicones