Influence of particle size on regional lung deposition – What evidence is there?
Abstract
The understanding of deposition of particles in the respiratory tract is of great value to risk assessment of inhalation toxicology and to improve efficiency in drug delivery of inhalation therapies. There are three main basic mechanisms of particle deposition based primarily on particle size: inertial impaction, sedimentation and diffusion. The regional deposition in the lungs can be evaluated in regards to the aerodynamic particle size, in which particle density plays a significant role. In this review paper, we first introduce the available imaging techniques to confirm regional deposition of particles in the human respiratory tract, such as planar scintigraphy, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). These technologies have widely advanced and consequently benefited the understanding of deposition pattern, although there is a lack of lung dosimetry techniques to evaluate the deposition of nanoparticles. Subsequently, we present a comprehensive review summarizing the evidence available in the literature that confirms the deposition of smaller particles in the smaller airways as opposed to the larger airways.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Nano-sized particles (< 100 nm) deposit in the whole respiratory tract, ending up in the alveolar region where deposition is dominated by diffusion.
“Nano-sized particles (< 100 nm) deposit in the whole respiratory tract, ending up in the alveolar region where its deposition is dominated by processes of diffusion [7–9].”
From Effects from a 90-day inhalation toxicity study with cerium oxide and barium sulfate nanoparticles in rats (2017) · cites this paper as [7]
Cites
Deposition of inhaled particles in the human lung is more peripheral in lunar than in normal gravity
Darquenne, C., & Prisk, G. K. (2008) · European Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1007/s00421-008-0766-y · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Presence of airborne microplastics in human lung tissue
Amato-Lourenço, L. F., Carvalho-Oliveira, R., Júnior, G. R., dos Santos Galvão, L., Ando, R. A., & Mauad, T. (2021) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126124 · Cited by 1,329 · see citing works
Short-range airborne route dominates exposure of respiratory infection during close contact
Chen, W., Zhang, N., Wei, J., Yen, H.-L., & Li, Y. (2020) · Building and Environment · doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106859 · Cited by 371 · see citing works
Nanotechnology and pulmonary delivery to overcome resistance in infectious diseases
Andrade, F., Rafael, D., Videira, M., Ferreira, D., Sosnik, A., & Sarmento, B. (2013) · Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.addr.2013.07.020 · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Controlled pulmonary drug and gene delivery using polymeric nano-carriers
Beck-Broichsitter, M., Merkel, O. M., & Kissel, T. (2012) · Journal of Controlled Release · doi:10.1016/j.jconrel.2011.12.004 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Geraets, L., Oomen, A. G., Schroeter, J. D., Coleman, V. A., & Cassee, F. R. (2012) · Toxicological Sciences · doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfs113 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Schwotzer, D., Ernst, H., Schaudien, D., Kock, H., Pohlmann, G., Dasenbrock, C., & Creutzenberg, O. (2017) · Particle and Fibre Toxicology · doi:10.1186/s12989-017-0204-6 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
“The site of deposition depends on the material’s physico-chemical characteristics with the particle diameter as one important factor [7].”
BackgroundGosens, I., Mathijssen, L. E. A. M., Bokkers, B. G. H., Muijser, H., & Cassee, F. R. (2014) · Nanotoxicology · doi:10.3109/17435390.2013.815814 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
The role of particle physico-chemical properties in pulmonary drug delivery for tuberculosis therapy
Mortensen, N. P., Durham, P., & Hickey, A. J. (2014) · Journal of Microencapsulation · doi:10.3109/02652048.2014.932029 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
- Authors
- Carvalho, T. C., Peters, J. I., & Williams III, R. O.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
- ORCID
- Peters, Jay I.
- Venue
- International Journal of Pharmaceutics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-03-15
- Volume
- 406
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 1-10
- ISSN
- 0378-5173 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2049281680
- Cited by
- 614
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 63 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 21.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Pharmaceutics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Inhalation and Respiratory Drug Delivery
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmaceutical Science › Advanced Drug Delivery Systems
- Keywords
- particle deposition, regional lung deposition, particle size, aerodynamic particle size, inertial impaction, sedimentation, diffusion, inhalation toxicology, lung dosimetry, nanoparticles, pulmonary drug delivery, planar scintigraphy, SPECT, PET, airway deposition
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Inhalation, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Humans, Lung, Particle Size, Tissue Distribution, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon, Drug Delivery Systems, Positron-Emission Tomography
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
