On the Role of Particle Size in the Dissolution of Lung Burdens

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Abstract
Calculations of the rate at which mass dissolves from a population of particles, having initially a log-normal size distribution and introduced simultaneously into a liquid medium, show that the amount remaining undissolved at time t is a function only of [sigma]g, the geometric standard deviation of the initial distribution, and a dimensionless parameter, [beta] [alpha] kt/Dm, where k is the solubility rate constant of the particulate material and Dm is the mass median diameter of the initial distribution. For 1.65 < [sigma] [alpha] < 2.72, the undissolved mass can be expressed as the sum of 2 exponential terms in [beta], a relationship which permits extending the calculations to the situation in which the dissolving mass is continually augmented with particles of the same size distribution. The results are interpreted in terms of lung clearance and compared with experimental data.