CT DICOM studies from: In vivo measurements of lung volumes in ringed seals: insights from biomedical imaging

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Hermann-Sorensen, H., Thometz, N.M., Woodie, K., Dennison-Gibby, S., and Reichmuth, C. In vivo measurements of lung volumes in ringed seals: insights from biomedical imaging. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Marine mammals rely on oxygen stored in blood, muscle, and lungs to support breath-hold diving and foraging at sea. Here, we used biomedical imaging to examine lung oxygen stores and other key respiratory parameters in living ringed seals (Pusa hispida). Three-dimensional models created from computed tomography (CT) images were used to quantify total lung capacity (TLC), respiratory dead space, minimum air volume, and total body volume to improve assessments of lung oxygen storage capacity, scaling relationships, and buoyant force estimates. Results suggest that lung oxygen stores determined in vivo are smaller than those derived from typical postmortem measurements. We also demonstrate that—while established allometric relationships hold well for most...