White David E, Bartley Jim, Nates Roy J
School of Engineering, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Surgery, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Biomed Eng Online. 2015 Apr 24;14:38. doi: 10.1186/s12938-015-0034-4.
Despite the occurrence of the nasal cycle being well documented, the functional purpose of this phenomenon is not well understood. This investigation seeks to better understand the physiological objective of the nasal cycle in terms of airway health through the use of a computational nasal air-conditioning model.
A new state-variable heat and water mass transfer model is developed to predict airway surface liquid (ASL) hydration status within each nasal airway. Nasal geometry, based on in-vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data is used to apportion inter-nasal air flow.
The results demonstrate that the airway conducting the majority of the airflow also experiences a degree of ASL dehydration, as a consequence of undertaking the bulk of the heat and water mass transfer duties. In contrast, the reduced air conditioning demand within the other airway allows its ASL layer to remain sufficiently hydrated so as to support continuous mucociliary clearance.
It is quantitatively demonstrated in this work how the nasal cycle enables the upper airway to accommodate the contrasting roles of air conditioning and the removal of entrapped contaminants through fluctuation in airflow partitioning between each airway.
尽管鼻周期的发生已有充分记录，但这种现象的功能目的尚未得到很好的理解。本研究旨在通过使用计算性鼻空调模型，从气道健康的角度更好地理解鼻周期的生理目的。
开发了一种新的状态变量热和水质量传递模型，以预测每个鼻气道内气道表面液体（ASL）的水合状态。基于体内磁共振成像（MRI）数据的鼻腔几何形状用于分配鼻间气流。
结果表明，承担大部分热和水质量传递任务的气道也会经历一定程度的ASL脱水。相比之下，另一个气道内降低的空调需求使其ASL层保持足够的水合状态，以支持持续的黏液纤毛清除。
本研究定量地证明了鼻周期如何通过每个气道之间气流分配的波动，使上气道能够适应空调和清除截留污染物的不同作用。
