PMID: 3752281Sep 1, 1986Paper

Perinatal anatomic development of alveolar type II cells in rats

The American Journal of Physiology
G D MassaroD Massaro

Abstract

We studied the perinatal development of rat alveolar type II cells. The volume density (Vv) of lamellar bodies increased twofold from gestational day 21.5 to postnatal day 1 and 1.6-fold between age 1 and 60 days. The Vv of glycogen areas fell sharply between late gestation and postnatal day 1; this decrease was greater in pups delivered from dexamethasone- compared with diluent-treated dams. In utero administration of glucagon to fetuses on gestational day 21.5 caused a decline in the Vv of glycogen areas within 4 h. Pups from dams underfed in late gestation had a higher Vv of glycogen areas and a lower Vv of lamellar bodies on the first 2 postnatal days compared with pups from dams allowed food ad libitum. We conclude that rat alveolar type II cells are somewhat immature at birth; prenatal maternal underfeeding slows the pre- and postnatal maturation of alveolar type II cells; and 3) exogenous glucagon causes a fall in the Vv of glycogen areas in type II cells of fetal rats at gestational day 21.5.

Citations

Aug 5, 2003·American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology·Feijie ZhangRobert J Mason

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