pulmonary alveolus
Also known as lung alveolus, alveolus, alveoli, pulmonary alveoli
hollow cavity found in the lungs
AI overview
A pulmonary alveolus is a tiny hollow cavity in your lungs where oxygen from the air you breathe enters your blood. These microscopic air sacs are essential for gas exchange, allowing your body to get the oxygen it needs while removing carbon dioxide waste.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Research
32,361 papers- Capillary cell-type specialization in the alveolus.Nature · 2020
- Pulmonary alveolus formation: critical period, retinoid regulation and plasticity.Novartis Foundation symposium · 2001
- Regeneration of the lung alveolus by an evolutionarily conserved epithelial progenitor.Nature · 2018
- Genomic, epigenomic, and biophysical cues controlling the emergence of the lung alveolus.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2021
- Contributions of retinoids to the generation and repair of the pulmonary alveolus.Chest · 2002
via PubMed
Article
A pulmonary alveolus (pl. alveoli; from Latin alveolus 'little cavity'), also called an air sac or air space, is one of millions of hollow, distensible cup-shaped cavities in the lungs where pulmonary gas exchange takes place. Oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide at the blood–air barrier between the alveolar air and the pulmonary capillary. Alveoli make up the functional tissue of the mammalian lungs known as the lung parenchyma, which takes up 90 percent of the total lung volume.
Alveoli are first located in the respiratory bronchioles that mark the beginning of the respiratory zone. They are located sparsely in these bronchioles, line the walls of the alveolar ducts, and are more numerous in the blind-ended alveolar sacs. The acini are the basic units of respiration, with gas exchange taking place in all the alveoli present. The alveolar membrane is the gas exchange surface, surrounded by a network of capillaries. Oxygen is diffused across the membrane into the capillaries and carbon dioxide is released from the capillaries into the alveoli to be breathed out.