Inhalable particles deposition in the human respiratory system is the main cause of many respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. It plays an important role in related disease prevention and treatment through establishing computer or external entity models to study rules of particle deposition. The paper summarized and analyzed the present research results of various inhalable particle deposition models of upper respiratory tract and pulmonary area, and expounded the application in the areas of disease inducement analysis, drug inhale treatment etc. Based on the review, the paper puts forward the problems and application limitations of present research, especially pointing out future emphasis in development directions. It will have a value of reference guidance for further systematic and in-depth study on the inhalable particle deposition simulation, experiment and application.
Research on the deposition of inhalable particles in the alveoli of the lungs is important to the causes, development for common respiratory diseases such as emphysema, and even the optimization of clinical treatment and prevention programs of them. In this paper, an in vitro experimental model was established to simulate the deposition of terminal bronchioles and pulmonary acinus particles. The deposition rate of inhalable particles with different particle sizes in the pulmonary acinus was studied under different functional residual capacity. The results showed that the particle diameter was an important factor affecting the deposition of particles in the lung alveoli. Particles with 1 μm diameter had the highest deposition rate. With the functional residual capacity increasing, particulate deposition rate significantly reduced. The results of this study may provide data support and optimization strategy for target inhalation therapy of respiratory diseases such as emphysema and pneumoconiosis. The established model may also provide a feasible in vitro experimental model for studying the deposition of inhalable particles in the pulmonary alveoli.