“…2 ). Key to this hypothesis is the interstitial matrix, which contributes to structural integrity, mediates metabolic processes and, like skeletal muscle or tendon, has a fibrillar structure whose individual elements may either rupture when stretched beyond a strain threshold [ 16 , 17 ] or, in theory, promote reparative signaling at lower levels of expansion or contraction of the lung unit. The vulnerability of lung tissue to high airway pressure (inversely related to its injury threshold) varies with its underlying metabolic environment, phase of progression or resolution of injury and the applied transpulmonary pressure.…”