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Updated: May 13, 2026

A Microfluidic Model of Biomimetically Breathing Pulmonary Acinar Airways
Published on: May 9, 2016
Circulation in the lungs and microcirculation in the alveoli
1I.P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sankt-Petersburg, Russia. kpivanov@nc2490.spb.edu
Abstract:
Human lungs weighing ca 600 g permit the passage of 5-6l of blood per minute. The blood capacity of the human lungs is about 0.5 l. Consequently, each 0.5 l of blood is during 5 s. The questions arise of how such a large mass of blood passes through such a small mass of lungs and what the reasons are for such a high rate of blood oxygenation. Since the structure of lungs in mammals is almost the same, we tried to solve these issues studying the rats, in which 20-22 ml of blood pass through the lungs of 1.5-2.0 g mass. A great blood flow appeared to be associated with a large diameter of the lung arterioles and a high rate of the blood flow in them. The high rate of oxygenation is accounted for by a special structure of alveoli and special conditions of the blood flow, which create ideal conditions for oxygen diffusion.
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