These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Distribution of smooth muscles along the bronchial tree. A morphometric study of ordinary autopsy lungs.
    Author: Ebina M, Yaegashi H, Takahashi T, Motomiya M, Tanemura M.
    Journal: Am Rev Respir Dis; 1990 May; 141(5 Pt 1):1322-6. PubMed ID: 2187386.
    Abstract:
    A morphometric pilot study was performed on airway smooth muscle in 20 autopsy lungs with no history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to establish a basis for the systematic analysis of the behavior of airway muscles in bronchial asthma or COPD. A total of 514 samples of cross-sectioned airways were taken from these lungs, covering as uniformly as possible the whole range from segmental bronchi to terminal bronchioles. In each airway, the perimeter length L of the epithelial basement membrane and the area S of mural smooth muscles were measured using a digital image analyzer, and the thickness D of smooth muscles and the radius R were determined in a standardized state in which the airway was stretched into a circle without changing L or S. On bilogarithmic coordinates, D was found to correlate significantly with R not only in individual cases but also in the total pooled data. D/R, the relative thickness of muscles, increased toward the periphery of the airways. In a theoretical application of Laplace's law to the physical conditions dominating the airway wall, this tendency in D/R suggests that the activity of airflow regulation is highest in terminal airways.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]