Respiratory Deposition

:: Section 4

Deposition Mechanism

IV. Interception

When a particle follows the air stream without deviation, it can still contact the airway surface because of its physical size. This mechanism is called interception. Its likelihood depends on how close the gas streamline is to the airway surface and also on the ratio of particle size to airway diameter. Usually interception is not critically important in our respiratory system except for long fibers that are long in one dimension. They can easily traverse the tortuous pathway to the alveolar region but they have a higher possibility of being trapped there due to interception.