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48 - Stem Cells in the Adult Lung
Book chapter

48 - Stem Cells in the Adult Lung

Ryan R. Driskell and John F. Engelhardt
Handbook of Stem Cells, Two-Volume Set, pp.547-554
Elsevier Inc
2004
DOI: 10.1016/B978-012436643-5/50138-3

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Abstract

This chapter compares the anatomical and cellular diversity of different species used as models to study adult progenitor–stem cells in the lung, with a focus on the conducting airway epithelium. The lung is composed of several distinct epithelia, including the tracheal–bronchial (tracheobronchial), bronchiolar, and alveolar. Tracheobronchial and bronchiolar epithelia are considered parts of the conducting airways, and alveolar epithelia make up the gas-exchanging airspaces. In human and nonhuman primate proximal cartilaginous airways, a pseudostratified columnar epithelium is composed of ciliated, goblet, and nonciliated columnar cells, intermediate cells, neuroendocrine cells, and basal cells. Unlike studies in many other organ systems, research that aspires to better understand human airway stem cell biology has been hindered by the anatomical and cellular differences in lung biology between rodent and primate species. Furthermore, the lung, which has the largest continuous epithelial surface area of all internal organs, is composed of several phenotypically and functionally distinct types of epithelia separated by vast distances. This functional specialization has popularized the theory that multiple types of adult stem cell populations, likely reside within different regions in the lung that have defined capacities to repopulate anatomically separate epithelia.

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