Influence of airway and airspace sizes on particle deposition in excised donkey lungs

Tests of aerosol deposition with breath holding and of lung function were performed on the excised lungs of three donkeys following regional in vivo radioaerosol deposition tests. Corrosion casts were made of the lungs to determine the dimensions of the tracheobronchial (TB) tree, and histological sections were taken to determine average alveolar airspace size. Static lung function tests, i.e., static compliance and specific compliance (Cstat and Cspec), agreed well with the predicted and reported in vivo values, as did the slope of Phase III from the single breath nitrogen washout (SBNW). Dynamic tests, i.e., dynamic compliance (Cdyn) and pulmonary resistance (Rpulm), displayed larger inter- and intra-subject variation, and showed poor agreement with reported in vivo values. Breathholding tests using 0.55 micron diameter aerosol indicated a mean respiratory airspace dimension of 0.16 mm, while the mean alveolar diameter from the lung sections was 0.19 mm. Breathholding tests with 1.18 micron aerosol indicated a mean small airway size of 0.65 mm, corresponding to the sizes of small airways on the corrosion casts. The donkeys have larger central airways but smaller peripheral airways than humans, and greater tracheobronchial deposition efficiency for 5 micron diameter particles. Tracheobronchial deposition in donkeys appears to be concentrated more distally than in humans, and may be related to the monopodal airway branching pattern in the former.