Exact morphometric modeling of rat lungs for predicting mechanical impedance

We have developed a computational approach that allows for one-to-one mappi ng of the airway anatomy when predicting the overall lung mechanical proper ties and their response to explicit constriction patterns imposed on the ai rway tree. Specifically. we have exploited the database from Raabe et at. ( LF-53 Albuquerque, NM: Lovelace foundation for radical Education and Resear ch), to build the first anatomically based computational model of the rat. The model was then used to predict the response to homogeneous and heteroge neous peripheral airway constriction. Unlike in humans, the inherent asymme try in the airway tree of rats is predicted to be a dominant contributor to the frequency dependence of lung resistance and elastance even if the cons triction is imposed homogeneously. A similar approach would. in principal, be applicable for humans, but the Raabe data is not sufficiently complete t o permit this. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.