We have often, and over a long time, thought of the "small airways" as a mystery zone or a quiet zone [1]. Relative to central bronchial generations, the total crosssectional area of each bronchiolar generation is large. Airflow resistance should in consequence be low. Considerable changes due to disease could, thus, occur with little chance of being detected by conventional lung function testi...

Computed tomography (CT) of the lungs makes it possible to study individual airways. A technique using high-resolution-CT (HRCT) has been developed to measure the internal size of the bronchi. Five normal subjects had a conventional HRCT scan at full, deep inspiration. The internal size of the airways from segmental to the sixth generation bronchi was measured using an original method of data a...

Quantitative analyzes of the variability in airways via four-dimensional dynamic ventilation CT patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: correlation spirometry data and severity airflow limitation

S mall airways disease has long been recognised as being physiologically important in obstructive lung diseases, particularly in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [1]. The study of COSIO et al. [2], in which the severity of small airway inflammation and remodelling in smokers correlated with airway closure and ventilation maldistribution, as measured by single breath washout tests, i...

Airway inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently the subject of rapidly increasing research interest, investigating both the nature of the inflammatory cells and the cytokines present. The data are being used to define and assess the severity, cause, prognosis, and response to treatment of this disease. The collection of spontaneous sputum or the induction of spu...

Small airway chronic inflammation is a major pathologic feature of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and is refractory to current treatments. Dendritic cells (DCs) accumulate around small airways in COPD. DCs are critical mediators of Ag surveillance and Ag presentation and amplify adaptive immune responses. How DCs accumulate around airways remains largely unknown. We use 2-photon D...

Airways inflammation is thought to play a central role in the pathogenesis of asthma. However, the precise role that individual inflammatory cells and mediators play in the development of airways hyperreactivity and the morphological changes of the lung during allergic pulmonary inflammation is unknown. In this investigation we have used a mouse model of allergic pulmonary inflammation and inte...

CD4+CD25+ FOXP3-positive T-regulatory cells have an important role in controlling immune and inflammatory reactions. The present authors hypothesise that these cells may be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of the present study was to characterise the expression of FOXP3 in large and small airways of nonsmokers, smokers with normal lung functi...