Spatial visualization of theoretical nanoparticle deposition in the human respiratory tract

Although nanoparticles and their hazardous effects on human health are well elucidated meanwhile, inhalation and distribution of these materials in the human respiratory tract still represent partly enigmatic phenomena. Main objective of the present study was the detailed description of a mathematical method, with the help of which spatial distributions of nanoparticles deposited in the tracheobronchial tree may be visualized appropriately.

The technique is founded on a stochastic model of the bronchial network, within which inhaled particles follow individual, randomly selected trajectories. The lengths of these random paths depend on the airway-specific deposition probabilities calculated for the particles and the duration of the breath cycle. Positions of the deposited material were determined by computation of the exact lengths of individual particle trajectories and the orientation of single path segments within a Cartesian coordinate system, where the z-direction corresponds with the trachea. For a better quantification of the particle distribution and its eventual comparison with experimental data particle coordinates were fitted into a voxel grid [1 voxel = (0.467 cm)(3)]. Particle deposition is chiefly controlled by diffusive processes, whereas deposition mechanisms associated with inertia or gravity play a subordinate role.

Deposition patterns were visualized for particles with sizes of 1, 10, and 100 nm. As clearly demonstrated by the results obtained from the modeling procedure, under normal breathing conditions 1-nm particles tend to deposit in the upper airways, whilst 10- and 100-nm particles are preferably accumulated in the airways of the central and peripheral lung. The particle dose deposited in the extrathoracic and thoracic airways within one breath cycle significantly declines with increasing particle size.

Based on the predictions presented in this study possible consequences of nanoparticle inhalation to the health of subjects increasingly exposed to these airborne materials were discussed.