The compliance curve for the flow limiting segments of the airway. I. Model studies.

By means of a pilot-static tube airway compliance curves describing the cross-sectional area (A) as a function of transmural pressure (Ptm) were constructed for several locations in the elastic airway of a mechanical model of the lung. From these curves local relations between elastic recoil pressure of the lung (Pel) and maximal expiratory flow (Vmax) were calculated and compared with the experimentally determined Pel-Vmax curve for the entire airway, i.e. all parts in series. Theory and experiments showed that the latter was the lower borderline of all the local Pel-Vmax curves. This means that the maximal flow through the entire airway at a given Pel is determined by the segment of the airway, having the smallest Vmax, just as the maximal strength of a chain is determined by its weakest link. The relation between the critical transmural pressure (Ptm-) and the corresponding cross-sectional area (A-) was derived from the experimental Pel-Vmax curve. This Ptm--A- curve had a composed appearance, which was found to reflect parts of the different local Ptm-A curves and transitions between them because of movement of the flow limiting site within the airway. The Ptm--A- curve depends on the elastic properties of the flow limiting segment, and the slope of this curve (dA-/dPtm-) is the compliance of the flow limiting segment. Significant frictional pressure losses upstream from the site of flow limitation caused underestimation of both A- and dA-/dPtm-, but downstream pressure losses had no influence on the Ptm--A- curve.