Abstract:Although it is important to explore potential treatment of chronic obstructive airway diseases such as asthma, as well as to discover interesting biophysical phenomena in airway system, the research on biomechanical models of airway narrowing remains a both appealing and challenging field. However, there have been significant advances during recent years, with number of emerging new models and new approaches. This review article briefly introduces some of the most recent work published in the literature. In particular, those work that emphasize on asthmatic airway narrowing behavior, and strive to explain the corresponding in vivo airway behaviors. More specifically, models that discuss not only individual airway behaviors, but also interactions due to coupling between airways and their surrounding structures are focused on. This includes interesting phenomena involving the airways and the smooth muscle that surrounds the airways, as well as the emergent spatial ventilation patterns due to dynamic airway interaction.