Generation of Biomechanics for Infant Lung Acinus

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19921
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 90:Biomedical engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokushima
• Principal Investigator: KOSHIYAMA Kenichiro 徳島大学, 大学院社会産業理工学研究部(理工学域), 准教授 (80467513)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 伊井 仁志 東京都立大学, システムデザイン研究科, 准教授 (50513016) ; 和田 成生 大阪大学, 基礎工学研究科, 教授 (70240546)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 肺胞 / 有限要素法 / 肺細葉 / 最適化 / 数理モデル / 分子動力学 / 肺サーファクタント

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed the infant lung acinar biomechanics that is the numerical and theoretical study about clarifying changes in morphological characteristics of infant lung acinus and their relationships to mechanics. Specifically, we conducted the studies on (1) Elucidation of changes in mechanical response due to lung acinar structure features, (2) Development of lung acinus model expressing inhomogeneity based on homogeneous structure, (3) Construction of alveolar formation stage model and the effects on mechanical fields, (4) Identification method of lung tissue model combined tensile testing and numerical analysis, (5) Molecular dynamics analysis of the interfacial expansion of lung surfactant, and (6) Delivery analysis of non-spherical particles to lung acinar region. We clarified the related mechanical phenomenon and laid the foundation for infant lung acinar biomechanics along with developing each method.

Free Research Field

肺バイオメカニクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で開発した小児肺細葉，肺胞成長モデルは，より侵襲性の低い方法での取得が望まれる小児肺細葉構造から実際の構造を推定しうるものであり学術的意義がある．また，表面張力を考慮した力学解析や小児肺組織の力学特性同定手法は，小児肺の病態を知るうえでの強力なツールとなり学術的意義が深い．さらに，肺サーファクタントの分子動力学解析や吸入薬の送達解析と組み合わせることで新生児肺疾患治療における医薬品．医工学技術開発への応用が期待できることから，小児肺医療分野への波及効果としての社会的意義がある．