The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, 6 Davis Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
Inhal Toxicol. 2009 Jun;21(7):607-18. doi: 10.1080/08958370802320186.
Certain inhaled chemicals, such as reactive, water-soluble gases, are readily absorbed by the nasal mucosa upon inhalation and may cause damage to the nasal epithelium. Comparisons of the spatial distribution of nasal lesions in laboratory animals exposed to formaldehyde with gas uptake rates predicted by computational models reveal that lesions usually occur in regions of the susceptible epithelium where gas absorption is highest. Since the uptake patterns are influenced by air currents in the nose, interindividual variability in nasal anatomy and ventilation rates due to age, body size, and gender will affect the patterns of gas absorption in humans, potentially putting some age groups at higher risk when exposed to toxic gases. In this study, interhuman variability in the nasal dosimetry of reactive, water-soluble gases was investigated by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models in 5 adults and 2 children, aged 7 and 8 years old. Airflow patterns were investigated for allometrically scaled inhalation rates corresponding to resting breathing. The spatial distribution of uptake at the airway walls was predicted to be nonuniform, with most of the gas being absorbed in the anterior portion of the nasal passages. Under the conditions of these simulations, interhuman variability in dose to the whole nose (mass per time per nasal surface area) due to differences in anatomy and ventilation was predicted to be 1.6-fold among the 7 individuals studied. Children and adults displayed very similar patterns of nasal gas uptake; no significant differences were noted between the two age groups.
某些吸入性化学物质，如反应性、水溶性气体，在吸入时很容易被鼻腔黏膜吸收，并可能对鼻上皮造成损伤。将暴露于甲醛的实验动物的鼻腔病变的空间分布与计算模型预测的气体吸收速率进行比较，结果表明病变通常发生在易受影响的上皮区域，这些区域的气体吸收率最高。由于吸收模式受鼻腔内气流的影响，年龄、体型和性别导致的个体间鼻腔解剖结构和通气率的差异将影响人类的气体吸收模式，使某些年龄组在暴露于有毒气体时面临更高的风险。在这项研究中，通过计算流体动力学 (CFD) 模型，对 5 名成年人和 2 名 7 岁和 8 岁的儿童进行了反应性、水溶性气体的鼻腔剂量的个体间变异性研究。针对休息时的呼吸，对呼吸率的等比缩放进行了气流模式研究。预测气道壁上的吸收分布是非均匀的，大部分气体在前鼻道中被吸收。在这些模拟条件下，由于解剖结构和通气的差异，导致整个鼻子（单位时间单位鼻腔表面积的质量）的剂量差异在研究的 7 个人中预测为 1.6 倍。儿童和成人的鼻腔气体吸收模式非常相似；两个年龄组之间没有明显差异。
