the.com/bronchiole
The lung's final cul-de-sacs, too small for cartilage, too vital to skip leg day.
means A bronchiole is one of the tiny branching airways in the lungs that carries air from the larger bronchi down to the air sacs where oxygen actually gets exchanged.
from From 'bronchus,' the windpipe's main branch, which traces back to Greek 'bronkhos' meaning windpipe — itself of uncertain deeper origin. Add the Latin diminutive suffix '-iole' (think 'little'), and you get 'bronchiole': literally a 'little bronchus.' The lungs branch like an upside-down tree, and by the time you reach these final twigs, you're millimeters from the leaves.
- no cartilage
- relies purely on smooth muscle to stay open
- asthma's target
- constricts here, not in the big airways
- count
- roughly 30,000 per lung, branching like inverted trees
- next stop
- leads straight into the alveoli for gas exchange