Respiratory epithelium

About: Respiratory epithelium is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5048 publications have been published within this topic receiving 222304 citations. The topic is also known as: respiratory tract epithelium & Respiratory Mucosa.

Hepatocyte nuclear factor‐3β limits cellular diversity in the developing respiratory epithelium and alters lung morphogenesis in vivo

Abstract: Hepatocyte nuclear factor-3β (HNF-3β), a nuclear protein of the winged helix family of transcription factors, is known to play a critical role in the formation of the embryonic node, notochord, and foregut endoderm. HNF-3β influences the expression of a number of target genes in the respiratory epithelium, activating transcription of thyroid transcription factor-1, surfactant protein-B and clara cell secretory protein. In order to discern the role of HNF-3β in differentiation and gene expression in the lung, HNF-3β was expressed in developing respiratory epithelial cells of transgenic mice, under the control of the human surfactant protein C gene promoter. Pulmonary abnormalities were observed in the lungs of fetal mice bearing the HNF-3β transgene. Differentiation of distal respiratory epithelial cells was arrested in the early pseudoglandular stage. Branching morphogenesis and vasculogenesis were markedly disrupted in association with decreased E-cadherin and vascular endothelial growth factor expression. HNF-3β limits cellular diversity of developing respiratory epithelium and alters lung morphogenesis in vivo, suggesting that precise temporal–spatial regulation of HNF-3β expression is critical for respiratory epithelial cell differentiation and lung morphogenesis. Dev. Dyn. 1997;210: 305–314. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Regulates Airway Epithelium Differentiation by Controlling Basal Cell Proliferation

Abstract: Airway epithelial basal cells are known to be critical for regenerating injured epithelium and maintaining tissue homeostasis. Recent evidence suggests that the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), which is highly permeable to Ca2+, is involved in lung morphogenesis. Here, we have investigated the potential role of the α7 nAChR in the regulation of airway epithelial basal cell proliferation and the differentiation of the human airway epithelium. In vivo during fetal development and in vitro during the regeneration of the human airway epithelium, α7 nAChR expression coincides with epithelium differentiation. Inactivating α7 nAChR function in vitro increases cell proliferation during the initial steps of the epithelium regeneration, leading to epithelial alterations such as basal cell hyperplasia and squamous metaplasia, remodeling observed in many bronchopulmonary diseases. The regeneration of the airway epithelium after injury in α7−/− mice is delayed and characterized by a transient hyperplasia of basal cells. Moreover, 1-year-old α7−/− mice more frequently present basal cells hyperplasia. Modulating nAChR function or expression shows that only α7 nAChR, as opposed to heteropentameric αxβy nAChRs, controls the proliferation of human airway epithelial basal cells. These findings suggest that α7 nAChR is a key regulator of the plasticity of the human airway epithelium by controlling basal cell proliferation and differentiation pathway and is involved in airway remodeling during bronchopulmonary diseases.

Effects of Nitric Oxide on Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection of Epithelial Cells from a Human Respiratory Cell Line Derived from a Patient with Cystic Fibrosis

Abstract: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by airway inflammation and chronic bacterial lung infection, most commonly with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic human pathogen. Despite the persistent airway inflammation observed in patients with CF, although phagocyte inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) production is upregulated, expression of iNOS in the respiratory epithelium is markedly reduced. Given the antimicrobial action of NO, this may contribute to the chronic airway infection of this disease. To define the role of epithelium-derived NO in airway defense against P. aeruginosa, we infected differentiated human bronchial epithelial cells derived from a patient with CF (CFBE41o- cells) with different strains of this pathogen at low multiplicities of infection. Using cells transfected with human iNOS cDNA, we studied the effect of NO on P. aeruginosa replication, adherence, and internalization. P. aeruginosa adherence to iNOS-expressing cells was reduced by 44 to 72% (P = 0.02) compared with control values. Absolute P. aeruginosa uptake into these cells was reduced by 44%, but uptake expressed as a percentage of adherent bacteria did not differ from the control uptake. Survival of P. aeruginosa within iNOS-expressing cells was reduced at late times postinfection (P = 0.034). NO production did not alter host cell viability. NO production reduced P. aeruginosa adherence to human bronchial epithelial cells and enhanced killing of internalized bacteria, suggesting that a lack of epithelial iNOS in patients with CF may contribute to P. aeruginosa infection and colonization.

TGF-β receptor II in epithelia versus mesenchyme plays distinct roles in the developing lung

Abstract: Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta signalling plays important roles in regulating lung development. However, the specific regulatory functions of TGF-beta signalling in developing lung epithelial versus mesenchymal cells are still unknown. By immunostaining, the expression pattern of the TGF-beta type II receptor (TbetaRII) was first determined in the developing mouse lung. The functions of TbetaRII in developing lung were then determined by conditionally knocking out TbetaRII in the lung epithelium of floxed-TbetaRII/surfactant protein C-reverse tetracycline transactivator/TetO-Cre mice versus mesenchyme of floxed-TbetaRII/Dermo1-Cre mice. TbetaRII was expressed only in distal airway epithelium at early gestation (embryonic day (E)11.5), but in both airway epithelium and mesenchyme from mid-gestation (E14.5) to post-natal day 14. Abrogation of TbetaRII in mouse lung epithelium resulted in retardation of post-natal lung alveolarisation, with markedly decreased type I alveolar epithelial cells, while no abnormality in prenatal lung development was observed. In contrast, blockade of TbetaRII in mesoderm-derived tissues, including lung mesenchyme, resulted in mildly abnormal lung branching and reduced cell proliferation after mid-gestation, accompanied by multiple defects in other organs, including diaphragmatic hernia. The primary lung branching defect was verified in embryonic lung explant culture. The novel findings of the present study suggest that transforming growth factor-beta type II receptor-mediated transforming growth factor-beta signalling plays distinct roles in lung epithelium versus mesenchyme to differentially control specific stages of lung development.

Stimulation of migration and wound repair of guinea-pig airway epithelial cells in response to epidermal growth factor

Abstract: Repair of the airway epithelium after injury involves cell proliferation, migration, and spreading into the injury site. The growth factor, epidermal growth factor (EGF), elicits proliferation of many epithelial cell types in vitro and in vivo, including airways epithelium. However, its effects on cell migration and spreading are less clear. We studied the effects of EGF on guinea-pig tracheal epithelial cell (GPTEC) chemotaxis and migration during wound repair. Primary GPTEC were allowed to migrate through a gelatin-coated filter for 6 h in a chemotaxis chamber, after which the number of migrated cells were counted. EGF elicited migration of GPTEC that was substantial and concentration-dependent. Treatment with EGF accelerated closure of small wounds in confluent epithelial monolayers substantially as measured by video microscopy over 24 h. These effects of EGF were concentration-dependent and seen in monolayer wounds of different size. Effects of EGF did not depend on the underlying matrix on which cell...