For the purpose to define the mechanism of heavy metal intoxication by inhalation, morphologic observations were made on rat lungs after nasal instillation of iron colloid particles of positive and negative electric charges. Histochemical observation was also made on the liver and spleen of these animals. The instilled iron colloid particles reach the alveolar cavity easily, as can be seen in t...

The alveolar epithelium represents a major site of tissue destruction during lung injury. It consists of alveolar epithelial type I (ATI) and type II (ATII) cells. ATII cells are capable of self-renewal and exert progenitor function for ATI cells upon alveolar epithelial injury. Cell differentiation pathways enabling this plasticity and allowing for proper repair, however, are poorly understood...

BACKGROUND Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus is entrenched in poultry in Asia and Africa and continues to infect humans zoonotically causing acute respiratory disease syndrome and death. There is evidence that the virus may sometimes spread beyond respiratory tract to cause disseminated infection. The primary target cell for HPAI H5N1 virus in human lung is the alveolar epithe...

Injury models have suggested that the lung contains anatomically and functionally distinct epithelial stem cell populations. We have isolated such a regional pulmonary stem cell population, termed bronchioalveolar stem cells (BASCs). Identified at the bronchioalveolar duct junction, BASCs were resistant to bronchiolar and alveolar damage and proliferated during epithelial cell renewal in vivo. ...

We have previously demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces production of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2), a C-X-C chemokine for neutrophil recruitment and activation, in primary cultured rat lung alveolar epithelial cells. We have also demonstrated that LPS depolymerizes microfilaments in rat alveolar epithelial cells. To determine whether the polymerization status of micro...

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a growth and chemotactic factor for fibroblasts encoded by an immediate early gene that is transcriptionally activated by transforming growth factor-beta. Previous studies have shown that both CTGF messenger ribonuclear acid (mRNA) and protein are expressed in renal fibrosis and bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice. The aim of the present study ...

To investigate the role of chemokines during the initial local response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the human lung, we studied chemokine production by the human alveolar epithelial cell line A549 after infection with M. tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis-infected A549 cells produced mRNAs and protein for monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) but not mRNAs for macrophag...