Word parts
What it means
The bronchi divide again and again into tiny tubes called bronchioles. They have no cartilage; instead their walls are mostly smooth musclesmooth MUS-ulMuscle that works without conscious control and lines hollow organs such as the stomach, intestines, bladder, airways and blood vessels.Full entry , which can tighten and narrow the airway. They end in the air sacs (alveolusal-VEE-uh-lus (plural alveoli, al-VEE-uh-ly)One of the tiny air sacs at the ends of the smallest airways in the lungs.Full entry ), where oxygen passes into the blood. In asthma the bronchioles tighten and swell; in bronchiolitis, a common infant illness, they become inflamed.
For the nurse
Narrowed bronchioles cause wheezingWEEZ-ingA high-pitched, whistling sound made as air moves through narrowed airways.Full entry and a long breath out. Bronchodilator inhalers relax the muscle in their walls; listen to lung sounds before and after a treatment.
At a glance
| Spanish | bronquiolo |
|---|---|
| Also written | bronchioles |
Related terms
wheezing
A high-pitched, whistling sound made as air moves through narrowed airways.
alveolus
One of the tiny air sacs at the ends of the smallest airways in the lungs.
trachea
The windpipe: the tube that carries air from the throat to the lungs.
airway
The passages that carry air into and out of the lungs, from the nose and mouth to the smallest air tubes.