Dehnung der Alveolen bei der Atmung: Analyse der mechanischen Kräfte und ihrer biologischen Wirkung
Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
Final Report Abstract
The final aim of this interdisciplinary research project is to understand the mechanical forces in the lung during ventilation at the cellular level and to understand how these forces are translated into biological answers such as pro-inflammatory gene expression. In this first funding period we have made considerable progress towards this ambitious goal. We have examined conditions in mice and men that cause ventilation (stretch)-induced mediator release and have shown that these conditions correspond to a stretch of roughly 20%. Similar forces have then been applied to living lung slices in a bioreactor and the available data show encouraging results. This model will be extremely useful for further mechanical and mechanistic studies on the consequences of lung stretch. The second part of this project is the development and characterization of the bioreactor. Here, we have made great progress in its design and in particular in the membrane material (PDMS) that we now use. The third major part of this work rests on the correct calculation of the mechanical forces that arise during ventilation. Also in this area we have made great progress. We really enjoy this interdisciplinary collaboration and are starting to see the anticipated synergistic effects. We very much hope that this collaboration will get continued funding.
