ARCHITECTURE OF LUNG PARENCHYMA - STUDIES WITH SPECIALLY DESIGNED X-RAY MICROSCOPE

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Abstract
Gas exchange can be considered in terms of 3 interrelated geometric figures: cylinder, 2-dimensional polygon, and 3-dimensional polygon. The most distal conductance space is a cyclinder; the alveolar walls are 2-dimensional polygons; the alveolar volumes are 3-dimensional polygons. Each geometric figure has a cycle of change during ventilation; and the quantitative values of these changes are probably optimal when fibers are young and healthy. With this concept one can better understand the loss of function when fibers become old and injured. Whoever coined the phrase "fiber of our being" anticipated the modern study of macromolecules in which the "fiber" does, indeed, seem to determine a great deal about our "being." In the lung it is intact muscle and elastic fibers that maintain the helix and intact collagen fibers that maintain the alveolus[long dash]2 very important structures for mammals to have in good working order so that they can cope with what has been termed our "O2 impoverished" atmosphere.

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