Home▸Medical Technology & Imaging Physics▸Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction Lab

🫁 Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction Lab

Explore the lung's unique reflex where low alveolar oxygen makes nearby blood vessels constrict instead of dilate, redirecting blood flow to better-ventilated alveoli and optimizing ventilation-perfusion matching.

Medical Technology & Imaging Physics3DModerate60 FPS

This simulator demonstrates how falling alveolar oxygen tension triggers closure of oxygen-sensitive potassium channels in pulmonary arteriole smooth muscle, driving calcium influx and vessel constriction, and how the scale of hypoxia, from a single alveolus to the entire lung, determines whether the reflex beneficially redirects blood flow or dangerously raises pulmonary artery pressure and right heart workload.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the oxygen level in one or more alveolar regions and observe the corresponding pulmonary arteriole respond in real time, tracking potassium channel state, membrane potential, intracellular calcium, and vessel diameter. Expand the hypoxic region from a small localized patch to the entire lung to see how blood flow redistribution and overall pulmonary artery pressure change as the reflex shifts from a protective, local adjustment to a widespread, pressure-raising response.

💡 Did You Know?

Did you know that hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction is essentially the opposite of how every other blood vessel in your body responds to low oxygen, and that this single reflex is a major reason why people who move to high altitude can develop elevated pulmonary artery pressure and, over years, measurable thickening of the right side of their heart?

⚙ Under the hood

physiologyrespiratory systempulmonary circulationhypoxiacardiovascularhigh altitudevascular biology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install