Pulmonary acinus: geometry and morphometry of the peripheral airway system in rat and rabbit

The geometry and morphometry of intraacinar airways in rat and rabbit lungs were studied from silicone rubber casts. Acini, defined as the complex of alveolated airways distal to the "terminal" bronchiole, were trimmed off the bronchial tree. In both species, the acinar volume followed a log-normal distribution over a range in size of one order of magnitude. At an inflation level of 60% total lung capacity, their mean volume was 1.86 mm3 in the rat and 3.46 mm3 in the rabbit. On a representative sample of acini of different volumes, the branching pattern was characterized as irregular dichotomy, and the segment length and inner and outer diameters were measured. The average acinus had a mean of six generations in the rat and seven in the rabbit. Both showed a decrease in segment length and inner diameter with each generation. The mean longitudinal pathway length--that is, the distance from the initial acinar segment to the terminal sacs--was found to depend on the cube root of the acinar volume in both species. It was calculated at 1.46 and 1.95 mm for rat and rabbit, respectively.