Inspired by soap bubbles, scientists reproduce alveolar movement in artificial lung model
Almost everyone has blown a soap bubble through a straw at least once. Inspired by this thin soap bubble film, an artificial lung that breathes like a real lung has been developed. A research team led by Professor Sungjune Jung of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) has developed an ultrathin artificial lung that reproduces…
Scientists have created an artificial lung that mimics the movement of human alveoli, the tiny air sacs in the lungs responsible for gas exchange. The researchers, led by Professor Sungjune Jung at POSTECH, developed an ultrathin membrane made from a soft hydrogel material inspired by soap bubbles. This membrane can stretch and contract over 240,000 continuous breaths, replicating the respiratory motion of a real lung.
The membrane's structure also mimics the three layers of the alveoli, with a vascular cell layer, basement membrane, and epithelial cell layer. By applying pressure changes similar to human breathing, the artificial lung was able to transmit mechanical signals to the embedded cells and respond to viral infections, such as influenza, in a manner comparable to natural lungs.
This breakthrough could revolutionize drug development and lung disease research by allowing scientists to study the effects of respiratory motion on lung cells in a dynamic, realistic environment.
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