Alveolar dimensions change with lung inflation, however, there is currently no consensus on whether this change is primarily due to expansion and if alveolar recruitment plays a role. Here, multiple b-value DW-MRI was used to investigate lung inflation mechanisms in-vivo, and 3D 3He and 129Xe whole lung morphometry (LmD) maps were acquired in five healthy volunteers at lung inflation states of FRC+1L and TLC. Decreases in the anterior to posterior gravitational gradient were observed between FRC+1L and TLC with both nuclei. Smaller than predicted LmD values at TLC suggests that both alveolar expansion and recruitment may occur during lung inflation.
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