AUTHOR=Chakravarty Aranyak , Kundu Debjit , Panchagnula Mahesh V. , Mohan Alladi , Patankar Neelesh A. 

TITLE=Perspectives on physics-based one-dimensional modeling of lung physiology

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2025.1635983

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2025.1635983

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=The need to understand how infection spreads to the deep lung was acutely realized during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The challenge of modeling virus laden aerosol transport and deposition in the airways, coupled with mucus clearance, and infection kinetics, became evident. This perspective provides a consolidated view of coupled one-dimensional physics-based mathematical models to probe multifaceted aspects of lung physiology. Successes of 1D trumpet models in providing mechanistic insights into lung function and optimalities are reviewed while identifying limitations and future directions. Key non-dimensional numbers defining lung function are reported. The need to quantitatively map various pathologies on a physics-based parameter space of non-dimensional numbers (a virtual disease landscape) is noted with an eye on translating modeling to clinical practice. This could aid in disease diagnosis, get mechanistic insights into pathologies, and determine patient specific treatment plan. 1D modeling could, thus, be an important tool in developing novel measurement and analysis platforms that could be deployed at point-of-care.