Prenatal Lung Development

Lung development requires integration of multiple regulatory factors that mediate patterns of cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and death. These developmental programs, which include transcription factors and signaling molecules, are likely re-enlisted during recovery of the lung following injury. Understanding these processes could provide important insight into controlling cell differentiation and regeneration for therapeutic purposes. This chapter describes the morphological features that characterize the defined stages of lung development and also addresses epithelial cell differentiation and vasculogenesis of the airways. In the latter part of the chapter, an attempt will be made to highlight specific cellular and molecular events during development that may influence lung maintenance in adult disease states.