Long description

(a) Photographs of lung sections from a healthy person showing dense, spongy lung tissue (left) and from a smoker showing a larger lung, extensive cavitation in the lung and black-brown tar deposits (right).

(b) Artificially-coloured scanning electron-micrograph image of alveoli in a healthy lung showing intact, well-defined alveoli as sections of spherical hollows.

(c) Artificially-coloured scanning electron-micrograph image of alveoli from the lung of a person suffering from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) showing damaged alveoli with thinner walls and larger air spaces.