GasTransportintheLung

Thelungconsistsofsome3x108alveoliconnectedinparallel.Becausethe
inflowingvenousbloodissimplypartitionedamongthevariousalveoli,its
compositionisconstantthroughoutthelung.
thecompositionoftheinspiredairisthesameforallofthedifferentalveoli.The
solubilityofanygasinbloodisthesameindifferentpartsofthelung.The
Boltzmannconstantcertainlydoesnotvary,andwemaketheassumptionthatthe
temperatureisuniformthroughoutthelung.
TheventilationVAandtheperfusionQcancertainlydifferindifferentalveoli.
Becauseoftheeffectsofgravity,thereisasystematicgradientofperfusionin
thelung:Thelowerpartshaveasubstantiallylargerblood flowthantheupper
partsofthelung.Thisiscausedbytheeffectsofhydrostaticpressureonthe
freelydistensiblepulmonaryvessels.
Themaximumvolumesachievedduringinspirationarefairlyuniform
throughoutthelung,buttheminimumvolumesachievedduringexpirationare
smallerinthelowerpartofthelungbecausetheweightofthelungtissue
participatesinthecompressionofthealveoli.
thealveolarventilation,likethebloodflow,islargerinthelowerpartsofthe
lung.theratioofventilationtoperfusionisdifferentindifferentalveoli.More
extremevariationsintheratioofventilationtoperfusionoccurinpulmonary
disease.
wecannotregardtheventilationperfusionratioasconstant;variationsinr,theratioof
ventilationtoperfusion,willresultinvariationsinthecompositionofthealveolarairand
ofthebloodleavingthealveolus.thefluxofgasisalsodifferentinalveoliwithdifferent
valuesofr.
Toanalyzethesituationinwhichtheventilationperfusionratiomayvary,wenumberthe
alveoliusinganindexi,i= 1,...,3x108.

where