Detecting Alterations in Pulmonary Airway Development with Airway-by-Airway Comparison

Lee, D; Willits, N; Wexler, AS

HERO ID

1726420

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year

2011

Language

English

PMID

21347548

HERO ID 1726420
In Press No
Year 2011
Title Detecting Alterations in Pulmonary Airway Development with Airway-by-Airway Comparison
Authors Lee, D; Willits, N; Wexler, AS
Journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering
Volume 39
Issue 6
Page Numbers 1805-1814
Abstract Neonatal and postnatal exposures to air pollutants have adverse effects on lung development resulting in airway structure changes. Usually, generation-averaged analysis of airway geometric parameters is employed to differentiate between pulmonary airway trees. However, this method is limited, especially for monopodial branching trees such as in rat airways, because both quite proximal and less proximal airways that have very different structure and function may be in the same generation. To avoid limitations inherent in generation averaging, we developed a method that compares two trees airway-by-airway using micro CT image data from rat lungs. This computerized technique (1) identifies the geometry and architecture of the conducting airways from CT images, (2) extracts the main tree, (3) associates paired airways from the two different trees, and (4) develops summary statistics on the degree of similarity between populations of animals. By comparing the trees airway-by-airway, we found that the variance in airway length of the group exposed to diffusion flame particles (DFP) is significantly larger than the group raised in filtered air (FA). This method also found that rotation angle of the DFP group is significantly larger than FA, which is not as certain in the generation-based analysis. We suggest that airway-by-airway analysis complements generation-based averaging for detecting airway alterations.
Doi 10.1007/s10439-011-0279-4
Pmid 21347548
Wosid WOS:000290724900019
Is Certified Translation No
Dupe Override No
Comments Source: Web of Science WOS:000290724900019
Is Public Yes
Language Text English
Keyword Development disruption; Pulmonary airways; CT image; Rat lungs; Airway-by-airway comparison; Diffusion flame particles