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A Three-Dimensional Model of Human Lung Airway Tree to Study Therapeutics Delivery in the Lungs

Annals of Biomedical Engineering volume 47, pages 1435–1445 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Surfactant instillation into the lungs is used to treat several respiratory disorders such as neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS). The success of the treatments significantly depends on the uniformity of distribution of the instilled surfactant in airways. This is challenging to directly evaluate due to the inaccessibility of lung airways and great difficulty with imaging them. To tackle this problem, we developed a 3D physical model of human lung airway tree. Using a defined set of principles, we first generated computational models of eight generations of neonates’ tracheobronchial tree comprising the conducting zone airways. Similar to native lungs, these models contained continuously-branching airways that rotated in the 3D space and reduced in size with increase in the generation number. Then, we used additive manufacturing to generate physical airway tree models that precisely replicated the computational designs. We demonstrated the utility of the physical models to study surfactant delivery in the lungs and showed the effect of orientation of the airway tree in the gravitational field on the distribution of instilled surfactant between the left and right lungs and within each lung. Our 3D lung airway tree model offers a novel tool for quantitative studies of therapeutics delivery.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided by a University of Akron Firestone Fellowship to H.T and a grant CA216413 from National Institutes of Health.

Conflict of interest

The authors do not have any conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, 260 S. Forge St., Akron, OH, 44325, USA

    Antonio Copploe & Hossein Tavana

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA

    Morteza Vatani & Jae-Won Choi

Authors
  1. Antonio Copploe
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  2. Morteza Vatani
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  3. Jae-Won Choi
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  4. Hossein Tavana
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Correspondence to Hossein Tavana.

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Associate Editor Joel Stitzel oversaw the review of this article.

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Copploe, A., Vatani, M., Choi, JW. et al. A Three-Dimensional Model of Human Lung Airway Tree to Study Therapeutics Delivery in the Lungs. Ann Biomed Eng 47, 1435–1445 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-019-02242-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-019-02242-z

Keywords

  • 3D lung airway tree
  • Computational design
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Physical models
  • Surfactant delivery