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© 2006 The American Thoracic Society doi: 10.1513/pats.200605-127SF Toward Therapeutic Pulmonary Alveolar Regeneration in HumansLung Biology Laboratory, and Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Donald Massaro, M.D., Lung Biology Laboratory, Box 571481, Georgetown University School of Medicine, 3900 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, DC 20057-1481. E-mail: massarod{at}georgetown.edu ABSTRACT In humans, age results in loss of pulmonary alveoli; menopause accelerates loss of diffusing capacity, an index of alveolar surface area; and disease (e.g., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) results in loss of alveoli. Thus, an important goal for investigators is to generate knowledge that allows induction of pulmonary alveolar regeneration in humans. Our enthusiasm for this goal and our assessment of its feasibility are based on work in several laboratories over the last decade that has disproved the notion that pulmonary alveoli are incapable of regeneration, and on the growing evidence that signals that regulate programs of alveolar turnover (loss and regeneration) are conserved from rodents to humans. We review animal models of alveolar loss and regeneration and their conservation during evolution, and hence their relevance to humans.
Key Words: age chronic obstructive pulmonary disease menopause This article has been cited by other articles:
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