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1 School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
2 School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA; California National Primate Research Center, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
3 School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA; California National Primate Research Center, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lsvanwinkle{at}ucdavis.edu.
Lung development is both a pre- and postnatal process. While many lung diseases have their origins in early childhood, little quantitative data is available on the normal growth and differentiation of both the conducting airways and the airway epithelium during the postnatal period. We examined rhesus monkey lungs from 5 postnatal ages: 4-6 days and 1, 2, 3 and 6 mos. Airways increase significantly in both length and circumference as monkeys increase significantly in body weight from 5d to 6 mos. In this study we asked the question: As basement membrane surface area increases, does the epithelial cell organization change? To answer this question we quantified total epithelial cell mass using high resolution light micrographs and morphometric techniques on sections from defined airway regions: trachea, proximal intrapulmonary bronchus (generations 1 or 2) and distal intrapulmonary bronchus (generations 6 to 8). Epithelial thickness decreased in the smaller, more distal, airways compared to trachea, but did not change with age in the trachea and proximal bronchus. The volume fraction of all cell types measured did not change significantly. Ciliated cells in the distal bronchus and goblet cells in the trachea both decreased in abundance with increasing age. Overall, the epithelial cell populations changed little in terms of mass or relative abundance to each other during this period of active postnatal lung growth. In regards to the proximal conducting airway epithelium, we conclude: 1) that the steady-state abundance is tightly regulated to keep the proportion of cell types constant and 2) that establishment of these cell types occurs prior to 4-6 days postnatal age. We conclude that growth of the proximal airways occurs primarily in length and lags behind that of the lung parenchyma.
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