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J Appl Physiol 83: 1711-1720, 1997;
8750-7587/97 $5.00
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Vol. 83, Issue 5, 1711-1720, 1997

Effects of anatomic variability on blood flow and pressure gradients in the pulmonary capillaries

Amit Dhadwal1, Barry Wiggs2, Claire M. Doerschuk3, and Roger D. Kamm1

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering and Center for Biomedical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139; 2 Pulmonary Research Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6R 1Z3; and 3 Physiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Received 21 June 1996; accepted in final form 3 July 1997.

Dhadwal, Amit, Barry Wiggs, Claire M. Doerschuk, and Roger D. Kamm. Effects of anatomic variability on blood flow and pressure gradients in the pulmonary capillaries. J. Appl. Physiol. 83(5): 1711-1720, 1997.---A theoretical model is developed to simulate the flow of blood through the capillary network in a single alveolar septum. The objective is to study the influence of random variability in capillary dimension and compliance on flow patterns and pressures within the network. The capillary bed is represented as an interconnected rectangular grid of capillary segments and junctions; blood flow is produced by applying a pressure gradient across the network. Preferred flow channels are shown to be a natural consequence of random anatomic variability, the effect of which is accentuated at low transcapillary pressures. The distribution of pressure drops across single capillary segments widens with increasing network variability and decreasing capillary transmural pressure. Blockage of one capillary segment causes the pressure drop across that segment to increase by 60%, but the increase falls to <10% at a distance of three segments. The factors that cause nonuniform capillary blood flow through the capillary network are discussed.

pulmonary alveoli; pulmonary circulation; perfusion; mathematical model; microcirculation; neutrophil margination

0161-7567/97 $5.00 Copyright © 1997 the American Physiological Society




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