Pulmonary alveolus

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For other uses, see Alveolus.

Pulmonary alveolus

The alveoli

Details

System Respiratory system

Location Lung

Identifiers

Latin alveolus pulmonis

MeSH D011650

TH H3.05.02.0.00026

Anatomical terminology

[edit on Wikidata]
A pulmonary alveolus (plural: alveoli, from Latin alveolus, "little cavity") also known as
an air sac or air space is one of millions of hollow, distensible cup-shaped cavities in
the lungs where oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide.[1] Alveoli make up the
functional tissue of the lungs known as the lung parenchyma, which takes up 90 percent
of the total lung volume.[2][3]
Alveoli are first located in the respiratory bronchioles that mark the beginning of
the respiratory zone. They are located sparsely in these bronchioles, line the walls of
the alveolar ducts, and are more numerous in the blind-ended alveolar
sacs.[4] The acini are the basic units of respiration, with gas exchange taking place in all
the alveoli present.[5] The alveolar membrane is the gas exchange surface, surrounded
by a network of capillaries. Across the membrane oxygen is diffused into the capillaries
and carbon dioxide released from the capillaries into the alveoli to be breathed out.[6][7]
Alveoli are particular to mammalian lungs. Different structures are involved in gas
exchange in other vertebrates.[8]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_alveolus