alveoli

     

An alveolus (plural: alveoli, from Latin alveolus, "little cavity") is an anatomical structure that has the form of a hollow cavity. Mainly foun in the lung, the pulmonary alveoli are spherical outcroppings of the respiratory bronchioles and are the primary sites of gas exchange with the blood. Alveoli are particular to mammalian lungs. Different structures are involved in gas exchange in other vertebrates.

Trivia about alveoli

  • Human lungs have millions of these tiny air sacs, where oxygen & carbon dioxide are exchanged
  • In 1659 Italian anatomist Marcello Malpighi discovered that the lungs were made up of these tiny air sacs
  • Gas exchange occurs in these tiny, thin-walled sacs in the lungs
  • If these air sacs were flattened out, the lungs would have a surface area of up to 1,000 square feet
  • The name of these air cells in the lungs comes from the Latin for "cavity"
  • These microscopic air sacs in the lungs are the site of gas exchange

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