Recent studies have implicated keratin 5 (KRT5)+ cells in repopulation of damaged lung tissue following severe H1N1 influenza virus infection. However, the origins of the cells repopulating the injured alveolar region remain controversial. We sought to determine the cellular dynamics of lung repair following influenza infection and define whether nascent KRT5+ cells repopulating alveolar epithe...

The pulmonary alveolar epithelium undergoes extensive regeneration in response to lung injuries, including lung resection. In recent years, our understanding of cell lineage relationships in the pulmonary alveolar epithelium has improved significantly. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate pneumonectomy (PNX)-induced alveolar regeneration remain largely unknown. In this s...

Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor in the development of various lung diseases, including pulmonary emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, and lung cancer. The mechanisms of these diseases include alterations in alveolar epithelial cells, which are essential in the maintenance of normal alveolar architecture and function. Following cigarette smoking, alterations in alveolar epithelial cells induc...

Changes in the number of alveolar macrophages were correlated with organism burden during Pneumocystis carinii infection. The lungs of healthy, dexamethasone-treated, and dexamethasone-treated and P. carinii-infected rats were lavaged with phosphate-buffered saline. Counting of alveolar macrophages in the lavage fluids revealed that P. carinii infection caused a 58% decrease in the number of al...

The amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) constitutes a rate-limiting step for sodium (Na+) and water absorption across lung alveolar epithelium. Recent reports suggested that ENaC is regulated by membrane-bound extracellular serine proteases, such as channel-activating proteases (CAPs). The objectives of this study were to examine the role of serine proteases in the regulation o...

Diabetic patients have a decreased incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome, but the mechanism responsible for the decreased incidence is uncertain. Reabsorption of alveolar edema fluid (alveolar fluid clearance) has been considered to play an important role in resolution of acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, little is known regarding alveolar fluid clearance in diabetes mell...

Background: Apoptosis of alveolar septal cells has been linked to emphysema formation. Nitrogen dioxide, a component of cigarette smoke, has been shown to induce alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis in vitro. It is hypothesised that exposure of rats to nitrogen dioxide may result in increased alveolar septal cell apoptosis in vivo with ensuing emphysema—that is, airspace enlargement and loss of a...

Mastitis, inflammation of the mammary gland, is the most costly common disease in the dairy industry, and is caused by mammary pathogenic bacteria, including Escherichia coli. The bacteria invade the mammary alveolar lumen and disrupt the blood-milk barrier. In normal mammary gland, alveolar epithelial tight junctions (TJs) contribute the blood-milk barrier of alveolar epithelium by blocking th...

Better understanding of alveolar mechanics is very important in order to avoid lung injuries for patients undergoing mechanical ventilation for treatment of respiratory problems. The objective of this study was to investigate the alveolar mechanics for two different alveolar sac models, one based on actual geometry and the other an idealized spherical geometry using coupled fluid-solid computat...