TY -的T1 -如何使一个小窝摩根富林明——欧洲an Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 483 LP - 485 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00003308 VL - 31 IS - 3 AU - Weibel, E. R. Y1 - 2008/03/01 UR - //www.qdcxjkg.com/content/31/3/483.abstract N2 - Alveoli are the hallmark of lung structure. In 1959, when I embarked on studies of lung structure that “should interest physiologists”, the first question I was asked was “how many alveoli are there in the human lung?” Along with Prof. D. Gomez, I counted alveoli by devising a now obsolete method 1, only to realise that what is of real functional importance is the design of the wall of these small chambers, such as their surface area and their provision with capillaries 2. However, the fascination with the notion of alveoli has remained, and a new unbiased method for counting them has now shown that the human lung is made of ∼480 million of these small bubbles 3, all openly connected to the terminal branches of the airway tree that constitute the pulmonary acinus. Alveoli are formed to increase the density of gas exchange surface on the acinar airway tree, thus facilitating diffusion of oxygen to and into the capillaries. But to what extent is an alveolus a structural entity? This question is pertinent if we try to interpret the statement by Fehrenbach et al. 4 in this issue of the European Respiratory Journal, that “neoalveolarisation contributes to compensatory lung growth following pneumonectomy”. This suggests that new alveoli “pop up” when the residual lung grows its surface to compensate for the loss of gas exchange tissue caused by partial pneumonectomy in mice 5. The study by Fehrenbach et al. 4 indeed shows convincingly that the number of alveoli has increased by ∼50%, from 643,000 to 925,000 in the right lung, 20 days after left pneumonectomy. This increase reflects part of the compensatory growth process that was found to fully restore the lost gas exchange surface 5. The compensatory growth process following partial pneumonectomy first implies … ER -