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Fig. 2 | Respiratory Research

Fig. 2

From: Regeneration of the lung: Lung stem cells and the development of lung mimicking devices

Fig. 2

Regeneration of distal and alveolar airway epithelium after injury. a The small airways lack basal cells and consist of cuboidal epithelium, containing secretory and ciliated cells, as well as clusters of neuroendocrine cells. The cuboidal epithelium passes into a broncho-alveolar duct junction which is the niche of broncho-alveolar stem cells. The alveolar epithelium consists of alveolar type I, type II cells and alveolar progenitor cells. b Variant club cells (Cyp2f2−) are a variant of secretory cells that survive naphtalene injury and give rise to cyp2f2+ club cells. Lineage tracing of Cgrp+ cells showed that after depletion of club cells by naphtalene injury neuroendocrine cells contribute to the regeneration of these cells. At the broncho-alveolar duct junction, broncho-alveolar stem cells were isolated and shown to differentiate into bronchiolar and alveolar lineages in culture (dashed lines). Scgb1a1+ cells have the potential to form alveolar type I and type II cells after bleomycin injury, but not after hyperoxia-induced injury (dashed line). AT-II cells can self-renew and differentiate to AT-I cells. After pneumonectomy, a contribution of AT-I cells to regenerate AT-II cells was observed. An alveolar progenitor cell expressing α6-β4 integrins can regenerate AT-II cells after injury. Yet another cell type was identified expressing Sca1+ arising from AT-II cells and regenerating AT-I cells. Distal alveolar stem cells appear after severe injury and give rise to secretory and alveolar cells

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