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Table 3 Median particle diameter depositing in regions of an adult male respiratory tract following inhalation of polydisperse aerosols (GSD = 2.0)

From: Derivation of first-order dissolution rates to estimate particle clearance and burden in the human respiratory tract

Activity

Region

Inhaled mass median diameter (µm)a

0.1

0.5

1

5

10

Deposited mass median diameter (5th, 95th percentiles)

Sitting

ET

0.099 (0.025, 0.332)

0.869 (0.232, 2.24)

1.61 (0.56, 4.10)

5.55 (2.05, 14.1)

9.05 (3.43, 23.0)

 

TB

0.074 (0.024, 0.241)

0.520 (0.142, 1.78)

1.25 (0.35, 3.63)

4.56 (1.77, 10.2)

6.57 (2.80, 14.5)

 

PU

0.078 (0.028, 0.248)

0.611 (0.153, 1.74)

1.18 (0.38, 2.77)

2.77 (1.24, 5.43)

3.61 (1.71, 6.49)

Light exercise

ET

0.111 (0.027, 0.371)

0.866 (0.251, 2.197)

1.56 (0.55, 4.10)

5.79 (2.07, 14.9)

9.55 (3.59, 25.1)

 

TB

0.076 (0.024, 0.248)

0.498 (0.142, 1.74)

1.23 (0.34, 3.89)

4.70 (1.89, 9.50)

6.17 (2.93, 13.2)

 

PU

0.073 (0.026, 0.236)

0.612 (0.149, 1.85)

1.26 (0.39, 2.95)

2.84 (1.33, 5.02)

3.47 (1.76, 5.72)

Heavy exercise

ET

0.121 (0.028, 0.405)

0.853 (0.266, 2.16)

1.51 (0.54, 4.05)

5.74 (2.04, 14.9)

9.54 (3.58, 25.5)

 

TB

0.079 (0.025, 0.258)

0.514 (0.148, 1.89)

1.36 (0.35, 3.95)

4.19 (1.94, 8.42)

5.34 (2.73, 11.9)

 

PU

0.071 (0.024, 0.229)

0.592 (0.144, 1.82)

1.24 (0.38, 2.72)

2.49 (1.24, 4.07)

2.89 (1.68b, 4.48)

  1. ET extrathoracic, TB tracheobronchial, PU pulmonary
  2. aDeposition calculations are for a particle density of 3 g/cm3 in this example
  3. bThe first particle bin contains 7.0% of the mass deposited in this region