Pulmonary fibrosis is a form of lung disease that develops due to aberrant wound-healing following repeated alveoli injury in genetically susceptible individuals, resulting in chronic inflammation, excess deposition of the extracellular matrix components, mainly collagen, and scarring of lung tissue. In addition to irradiation, environmental agents such occupational inhalants, and chemotherapeu...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disease characterised by accumulation of lipoproteinaceous material within alveoli, occurring in three clinically distinct forms: congenital, acquired and secondary. Among the latter, lysinuric protein intolerance (LPI) is a rare genetic disorder caused by defective transport of cationic amino acids. Whole Lung Lavage (WLL) is currently ...

Human bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) is a lung cancer, morphologically similar to an endemic contagious lung neoplasm of sheep called sheep pulmonary adenomatosis (SPA) or jaagsiekte. SPA is caused by an exogenous type B/D retrovirus (jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV)), which prompted the present study to obtain evidence of a retrovirus in BAC. A panel of 249 human lung tumours, 21 nontumo...

BY DEVELOPMENTAL alveologenesis, we mean the formation of mature pulmonary gas-exchange units (alveoli) that occurs during the overall maturation of the organism. Morphometric estimates of the total number of alveoli in humans who died of nonpulmonary causes led to the conclusion that developmental alveologenesis ends at about the eighth postnatal year (6, 8, 26). In this issue of AJP-Lung, Hyd...

The lung is an attractive target for drug delivery due to noninvasive administration via inhalation aerosols, avoidance of first-pass metabolism, direct delivery to the site of action for the treatment of respiratory diseases, and the availability of a huge surface area for local drug action and systemic absorption of drug. Colloidal carriers (ie, nanocarrier systems) in pulmonary drug delivery...

Pulmonary emphysema is a major component of the morbidity and mortality of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that has become the fourth leading cause of death in the USA, and is becoming epidemic worldwide. Emphysema is defined as enlargement of peripheral airspaces of the lung including respiratory bronchioles, alveolar ducts and alveoli, accompanied by destruction of t...

The involvement of the pulmonary surfactant system in defense of the alveoli and distal airways of the lungs is an aspect of respiratory physiology and toxicology that has been largely overlooked. The pulmonary surfactant system is absolutely critical to survival of all mammalian species, as progressive loss of surfactant leads to lung collapse and death of the organism. In recent years it has ...

of lungs obtained at necropsy from 44 children at or above the 50th centile dying from non-pulmonary causes were described. In the present paper some results from the analysis of 92 further pressure-volume curves are described. These were compared with the theoretically normal values according to total body length, by dividing the observed value by the theoretically normal one. This was done fo...

Disturbances in the relationship of ventilation and perfusion may result in hypoxemia, a deficiency of oxygen in the blood. The four major causes of hypoxemia are hypoventilation, alveolar-capillary diffusion impairment, shunt, and ventilation perfusion mismatch.1 In this article factors which determine ventilation and gas exchange will be identified and abnormalities leading to hypoxemia will ...