Multiscale Network Modeling of Respiratory Mechanics and Ventilation

Respiratory physiology is a complex multiscale system that spans molecular, cellular, tissue, and organ-level processes, coordinated through intricate mechanical and neural interactions. Understanding the dynamics of breathing and gas exchange requires the integration of mechanical models of ventilation with network-based representations of physiological connectivity and control. Recent advances in computational physiology, imaging, and data-driven modeling have opened opportunities to combine network theory and multiscale simulation to study emergent behaviors in respiratory mechanics. However, despite significant progress in modeling lung tissue mechanics, alveolar ventilation, and neural control of breathing, the interplay across scales and the network structure underlying these interactions remain incompletely understood. Current models often focus on isolated subsystems, lacking integrative frameworks that capture the full network architecture linking respiratory mechanics to ventilation regulation under both healthy and pathological conditions.

This Research Topic aims to stimulate a comprehensive understanding of respiratory mechanics and ventilation through a network physiology lens. It seeks contributions that bridge the gap between data, models, and theory to describe how structural and functional networks govern breathing dynamics across scales. Key aims include elucidating the relationship between mechanical heterogeneity and network coupling, identifying topological features that predict resilience or dysfunction, and unifying multiscale models that connect molecular signaling to macroscopic ventilation patterns. By bringing together researchers from physiology, physics, mathematics, and computational biology, this Research Topic will help establish integrative frameworks capable of explaining the emergent organization of the respiratory system.

The scope of this Research Topic covers the multiscale and network foundations of respiratory mechanics, with emphasis on both theoretical and experimental contributions. It welcomes modeling frameworks, data-driven approaches, and conceptual advances that connect local mechanical events to whole-system respiratory function.

To gather further insights into the multiscale network modeling of respiratory mechanics and ventilation, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Network-based modeling of airway and alveolar mechanics

• Coupling between respiratory control networks and mechanical ventilation models

• Data-driven reconstruction of respiratory interaction networks from physiological recordings

• Multiscale simulations linking molecular, cellular, and organ-level breathing dynamics

• Network analysis of ventilation heterogeneity and synchronization

• Resilience, adaptability, and failure modes in respiratory network systems

• Comparative and pathological studies using network physiology frameworks

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Network Physiology, Multiscale ventilation modeling, Airway mechanics, Breathing dynamics, Respiratory Mechanics, Multiscale Modeling, Ventilation Dynamics, Alveolar Ventilation, Computational Physiology, Network Topology, Respiratory Control, Gas Exchange

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.