CHARACTERISTICS OF TRACHEOBRONCHIAL DEPOSITION AND CLEARANCE IN MAN *

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Abstract
A systematic analysis of the airway factors that effect particle deposition and the relation between deposition and mucociliary clearance was undertaken using both experimental and theoretical techniques. A model of aerosol deposition shows that the observed variation in 24-h% retention of radiolabelled aerosol in healthy adults can be accounted for in large part by changes in airway diameter, in accordance with the observed associated changes in pulmonary function. Subsequently, intrasubject changes in mucociliary clearance during the first 120 min were shown to be correlated with intrasubject variations in 24-h% retention. A mathematical model of aerosol deposition and mucociliary clearance was fitted to experimental clearance data. The model predicts a strong interdependence of mucus transport rates in the airways of the lung, which is verified by experimental data. Measured tracheal mucus transport rate varied between 1.7 and 8.1 mm min −1 . The model predicts terminal airway transport rates between 1.4 and 20.2 μm min −1 . Drugs or inhaled pollutants were shown to result in changes in the magnitude, variation and coordination of parameters of mucus transport within the lung.

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