Morawska Lidia, Buonanno Giorgio, Mikszewski Alex, Stabile Luca
Queensland University of Technology, International Laboratory for Air Quality & Health (ILAQH), Brisbane, Queensland Australia.
Global Centre for Clean Air Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Nat Rev Phys. 2022;4(11):723-734. doi: 10.1038/s42254-022-00506-7. Epub 2022 Aug 31.
Given that breathing is one of the most fundamental physiological functions, there is an urgent need to broaden our understanding of the fluid dynamics that governs it. There would be many benefits from doing so, including a better assessment of respiratory health, a basis for more precise delivery of pharmaceutical drugs for treatment, and the understanding and potential minimization of respiratory infection transmission. We review the physics of particle generation in the respiratory tract, the fate of these particles in the air on exhalation and the physics of particle inhalation. The main focus is on evidence from experimental studies. We conclude that although there is qualitative understanding of the generation of particles in the respiratory tract, a basic quantitative knowledge of the characteristics of the particles emitted during respiratory activities and their fate after emission, and a theoretical understanding of particle deposition during inhalation, nevertheless the general understanding of the entire process is rudimentary, and many open questions remain.
鉴于呼吸是最基本的生理功能之一，迫切需要拓宽我们对支配呼吸的流体动力学的理解。这样做会带来许多益处，包括更好地评估呼吸健康状况、为更精确地递送治疗药物奠定基础，以及理解并尽可能减少呼吸道感染传播。我们回顾了呼吸道中颗粒生成的物理学、呼气时这些颗粒在空气中的归宿以及颗粒吸入的物理学。主要关注来自实验研究的证据。我们得出结论，尽管对呼吸道中颗粒的生成有定性的理解，对呼吸活动期间呼出颗粒的特征及其排放后的归宿有基本的定量认识，对吸入过程中颗粒沉积有理论理解，但对整个过程的总体理解仍很初步，许多问题尚待解决。
