The smaller divisions of the bronchial tree that terminate at the alveoli in the lungs.
An acute or chronic inflammation of the bronchial tubes.
Small airways in the lungs that branch off the bronchi (large tubes) within the lung. The bronchioles terminate in clusters of air sacs called alveoli, deep within lung tissue.
A subdivision of the bronchial tree that does not contain cartilage or mucus glands in its wall. Bronchioles open from the fifth or sixth generation of bronchi and extend for up to 20 more generations before reaching the terminal bronchioles. Each terminal bronchiole divides into a number of respiratory bronchioles, from which the alveoli open. Each terminal bronchiole conducts air to an acinus in the lung.
One of the smaller subdivisions of the bronchial tubes. Bronchioles have no cartilage in their walls; they also have few glands in their mucosa.
The smallest of the tubes that branch from the bronchus in a lung.
A slender respiratory conduit within the pulmonary system that bifurcates from a more substantial air passage.
Minute air passages that stretch forth from the bronchi, delving into the intricate folds of the lung lobes.
Bronchioles are a multitude of narrow air passages within the lungs. They branch out from larger airways called bronchi and further divide into increasingly smaller tubes until they reach the alveoli, where the exchange of gases takes place.