Inhaled pathogens, pollutants and therapeutics interact with the dynamic architecture of the alveoli, yet how individual particles move and deposit at cellular resolution remains unclear. Here, utilizing the crystal ribcage platform, we track aerosol transport in ex vivo, actively ventilated lungs using real-time fluorescence imaging with single-particle resolution, capturing droplet trajectories, free-flight motion, impact orientation and deposition timescales within functional alveoli. These measurements show that intra-alveolar transport is directional and shaped by airway-guided flow and tissue motion. At larger scales, aerosols do not disperse uniformly throughout the lung’s volume but instead concentrate into geometrically constrained clusters of alveoli, forming a conserved mosaic-like compartmentalization while neighbouring alveoli remain largely unexposed. The pattern persists across particle types and species and varies with particle properties and lung age. In models of emphysema, fibrosis and metastasis, airway remodelling alters both the geometry and amount of deposition. These multiscale insights reveal how single-particle transport and airway structure together shape alveolar exposure, immune activation, development and therapeutic accessibility.
Grifno, G.N., Kahvecioglu, H.A., LeBourdais, R. et al. Real-time single-particle imaging of functional lungs reveals mosaic-like patterns of aerosol deposition in alveoli.
Nat. Biomed. Eng (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01724-5
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01724-5 bu içeriği 600 ile 800 kelime arasında olacak şekilde ve alt başlıklar ve madde içermiyecek şekilde ünlü bir science magazine için İngilizce olarak yeniden yaz. Teknik açıklamalar içersin ve Viral science news olacak şekilde İngilizce yaz. Haber dışında başka bir şey içermesin. Haber içerisinde 8 ile 10 paragraf olsun ve toplam uzunluk 600 ile 800 kelime arasında kalsın. Cevapta sadece haber olsun. Ayrıca haberi yazdıktan sonra içerikten yararlanarak aşağıdaki başlıkların bilgisi var ise haberin altında doldur. Eğer bilgi yoksa ilgili kısmı yazma.:
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Grifno, G.N., Kahvecioglu, H.A., LeBourdais, R. et al. Real-time single-particle imaging of functional lungs reveals mosaic-like patterns of aerosol deposition in alveoli.
Nat. Biomed. Eng (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01724-5
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01724-5
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