[総説］The roles of alveolar type II epithelial cells in acute lung injury and repair

概要

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Regeneration of alveolar epithelial cells is one of the important repair processes in many types of lung injury. Alveolar type II cells have two major functions, one is to serve as the site of surfactant production and the second is to serve as a progenitor cell for alveolar type I cells, particularly during re-epithelialization after lung injury. We have examined effect of several soluble factors on cultured alveolar type II cells in vitro, and also examined the sequential analysis of histopathology and gene expressions of surfactant proteins in alveolar epithelial cells of rats with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-, bleomycin-, and/or KGF-treated lungs. We have found that KGF is a specific stimulator for alveolar epithelial cells, and KGF instillation prevents bleomycin induced lung injury. KGF may play an important role in maintaining alveolar epithelium and repairing the damaged epithelium after injury. This review will give an overview of the roles of alveolar type II cells in the repairing processes of acute lung injury and fibrosis.
琉球医学会の論文