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Almost any type of lung tumor or lung cancer can compress the alveoli and reduce gas exchange capacity. In some cases the tumor will fill the alveoli. [33] Cavitary pneumonia is a process in which the alveoli are destroyed and produce a cavity. As the alveoli are destroyed, the surface area for gas exchange to occur becomes reduced.
This phenomenon occurs because of the elastin in the elastic fibers in the connective tissue of the lungs, and because of the surface tension of the film of fluid that lines the alveoli. As water molecules pull together, they also pull on the alveolar walls causing the alveoli to recoil and become smaller.
Alveolus (/ æ l ˈ v iː ə l ə s /; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology [ edit ]
Alveoli and their capillary networks 3D medical illustration showing different terminating ends of bronchioles. Alveoli consist of two types of alveolar cell and an alveolar macrophage. The two types of cell are known as type I and type II cells [32] (also known as pneumocytes). [3] Types I and II make up the walls and alveolar septa.
COPD destroys the alveoli, and lung tissue which makes breathing very difficult, causing shortness of breath, hyperventilation, and raised chest. The decreased number of alveoli causes loss of oxygen supply to the lungs and an increased accumulation of carbon dioxide. There are two types of COPD: primary and secondary.
The tendency for the alveoli to collapse is therefore almost the same at the end of exhalation as at the end of inhalation. Thirdly, the surface tension of the curved watery layer lining the alveoli tends to draw water from the lung tissues into the alveoli. Surfactant reduces this danger to negligible levels, and keeps the alveoli dry. [6] [37]
Each respiratory bronchiole supplies the alveoli held in each acinus accompanied by a pulmonary artery branch. The pulmonary lobule is the portion of the lung ventilated by one bronchiole. Bronchioles are approximately 1 mm or less in diameter and their walls consist of ciliated cuboidal epithelium and a layer of smooth muscle .
The cells in the respiratory epithelium are of five main types: a) ciliated cells, b) goblet cells, c) brush cells, d) airway basal cells, and e) small granule cells (NDES) [6] Goblet cells become increasingly fewer further down the respiratory tree until they are absent in the terminal bronchioles; club cells take over their role to some extent here. [7]