Geometry and Dimensions of Airways of the Respiratory Zone

Abstract

The pulmonary “parenchyma”, as it was defined above, contains the elements of the respiratory and transitory zones. In the preceding chapter it was shown that the alveoli were by far its largest component. From the viewpoint of respiratory function, alveoli are of primary interest since they represent the air chambers in which the gas exchange between air and blood actually takes place. The following paragraphs will, therefore, deal with the study of geometry, number and dimensions of alveoli, and with the determination of some over-all dimensions, such as the total alveolar surface area, which is an estimator of the size of the air-tissueinterface.