What is pleural fluid and where is it located?

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Multiple Choice

What is pleural fluid and where is it located?

Pleural fluid is a thin, slippery serous fluid that fills the pleural cavity, the space between the lungs’ visceral pleura and the thoracic cavity’s parietal pleura. It lubricates the two pleural surfaces so the lungs can glide smoothly as you breathe, and the slight surface tension between the layers helps keep the lungs pressed against the chest wall to aid expansion. It’s not a gas in the alveoli, not mucus in the nasal cavity, and not a blood filtrate. In a healthy person only a small amount is present; excess fluid can accumulate in this space, causing a pleural effusion.

Pleural fluid is a thin, slippery serous fluid that fills the pleural cavity, the space between the lungs’ visceral pleura and the thoracic cavity’s parietal pleura. It lubricates the two pleural surfaces so the lungs can glide smoothly as you breathe, and the slight surface tension between the layers helps keep the lungs pressed against the chest wall to aid expansion. It’s not a gas in the alveoli, not mucus in the nasal cavity, and not a blood filtrate. In a healthy person only a small amount is present; excess fluid can accumulate in this space, causing a pleural effusion.

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