By wedding the power of supercomputers and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, PNNL scientists are creating a virtual model of the rat's respiratory system. Ultimately, this will provide a three-dimensional view that allows researchers to see how pollutants enter, travel, and are collected in complex airways.

The model is nearly complete for the rat's nose, sinuses, larynx, and upper lungs, says Kevin R. Minard, senior research scientist. After rats come monkeys and then humans.

The respiratory models provide a unique basis for understanding how poor air quality influences health and how health effects depend on preexisting medical conditions such as asthma; they likely will be useful for developing improved pulmonary drug delivery systems, Minard says.

To validate model predictions, Minard and colleagues currently are working on novel experimental methods that exploit advanced NMR imaging technology for visualizing the dynamics of inhaled gases and for both the distribution and clearance of magnetically labeled particles in living rodents.

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