This monograph sheds new light on pulmonary sensory receptors. Diving into the pulmonary microenvironment, the book focuses on the role of pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) as potential receptors and effectors, able to store and release neurotransmitters. It explores NEBs as potential stem cell niche and highlights the multidisciplinary approach taken to identify and study NEBs, including functional morphological investigation, live cell imaging, genetic models, and laser microdissection combined with gene expression analysis. Complexly organized NEBs are an integral part of the intrapulmonary airway epithelium of all air-breathing vertebrates. For decades a quest has been going on to unravel the functional significance of these intriguing structures that appear to be modified in the course of many pulmonary diseases. The NEB microenvironment (ME) is composed of organoid clusters of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNECs) that are able to store and release neurotransmitters and are closely contacted by extensive nerve terminals, emphasizing a potential receptor/effector role and probable signalling to the central nervous system. PNECs are largely shielded from the airway lumen by a special type of Clara cells, the Clara-like cells, with potential stem cell characteristics. So far, functional studies of the pulmonary NEB ME revealed that PNECs can be activated by various mechanical and chemical stimuli, resulting in a calcium-mediated release of neurotransmitters. In the past decades, a number of publications have exposed NEBs as potential hypoxia sensors. Recent experimental evidence unveiled that the NEB ME is a quiescent stem cell niche in healthy postnatal lungs, and silencing may involve bone morphogenetic protein signalling mediated by vagal afferents. Only an integrated approach that takes all current information into account will be able to explain the full role of the pulmonary NEB ME in health and disease. This highly informative and carefully presented book, provides insights for researchers, PhD students with an interest in (bio)medical and veterinary science, especially in the field of the autonomic innervation of the lung, chemo-and mechanoreceptors

This monograph sheds new light on pulmonary sensory receptors. Diving into the pulmonary microenvironment, the book focuses on the role of pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) as potential receptors and effectors, able to store and release neurotransmitters. It explores NEBs as potential stem cell niche and highlights the multidisciplinary approach taken to identify and study NEBs, including functional morphological investigation, live cell imaging, genetic models, and laser microdissection combined with gene expression analysis. Complexly organized NEBs are an integral part of the intrapulmonary airway epithelium of all air-breathing vertebrates. For decades a quest has been going on to unravel the functional significance of these intriguing structures that appear to be modified in the course of many pulmonary diseases. The NEB microenvironment (ME) is composed of organoid clusters of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNECs) that are able to store and release neurotransmitters and are closely contacted by extensive nerve terminals, emphasizing a potential receptor/effector role and probable signalling to the central nervous system. PNECs are largely shielded from the airway lumen by a special type of Clara cells, the Clara-like cells, with potential stem cell characteristics. So far, functional studies of the pulmonary NEB ME revealed that PNECs can be activated by various mechanical and chemical stimuli, resulting in a calcium-mediated release of neurotransmitters. In the past decades, a number of publications have exposed NEBs as potential hypoxia sensors. Recent experimental evidence unveiled that the NEB ME is a quiescent stem cell niche in healthy postnatal lungs, and silencing may involve bone morphogenetic protein signalling mediated by vagal afferents. Only an integrated approach that takes all current information into account will be able to explain the full role of the pulmonary NEB ME in health and disease. This highly informative and carefully presented book, provides insights for researchers, PhD students with an interest in (bio)medical and veterinary science, especially in the field of the autonomic innervation of the lung, chemo-and mechanoreceptors.

Lung Epithelial Biology in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Disease provides a one-stop resource capturing developments in lung epithelial biology related to basic physiology, pathophysiology, and links to human disease. The book provides access to knowledge of molecular and cellular aspects of lung homeostasis and repair, including the molecular basis of lung epithelial intercellular communication and lung epithelial channels and transporters. Also included is coverage of lung epithelial biology as it relates to fluid balance, basic ion/fluid molecular processes, and human disease. Useful to physician and clinical scientists, the contents of this book compile the important and most current findings about the role of epithelial cells in lung disease. Medical and graduate students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows, as well as clinicians interested in the mechanistic basis for lung disease will benefit from the books examination of principles of lung epithelium functions in physiological condition. - Provides a single source of information on lung epithelial junctions and transporters - Discusses of the role of the epithelium in lung homeostasis and disease - Includes capsule summaries of main conclusions as well as highlights of future directions in the field - Covers the mechanistic basis for lung disease for a range of audiences

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the information available on the morphological, physiological and evolutionary aspects of specialized cells distributed within the epithelia of the airways in the vertebrates. A lot of work has been done on the cell and molecular biology of these cells which are regarded as as oxygen receptor neuroepithelial cells. These chemoreceptors which were conserved throughout evolution have neuroendocrine functions carrying their signals to the central nervous system. The chemoreceptor cells are sensors which detect the signal changes in the external and internal environments, and play a key role in the survival of various species. Studies addressed to the chemoreceptor cell systems in the airways are of great importance for investigating their response to changes in the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the environment since the future of the planet earth is being threatened by global warming and climate change. Praise for the book: ...This volume would be of special interest to researchers who are curious about the evolution of vertebrate respiratory control in general and the regulation of ventilation in nonmammalian vertebrates in particular. -Wayne L. Silver, Wake Forest University, in The Quarterly Review of Biology, Volume 85, Number 2

The chapters in this book are based on the Visceral Pain conference in Adelaide, Australia, under the auspices of the International Federation for Neurogastroenterology and Motility in 2021. This is one of the hottest fields of science and includes mechanisms involving how the microbiome communicates with the brain and how, when disordered, these mechanisms contribute to clinical diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Researchers from around the globe presented their latest findings as a review of the current state of the art in the field from both the clinical and scientific points of view. These systems are now appreciated as being critical for shaping our well-being and their disorders underlie chronic clinical conditions of significant morbidity and mortality. The author team includes long-established authorities who significantly contributed to the advances in visceral pain research over the past two decades and the new generation that will continue to contribute to advancing our understanding of the field.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the organization of endogenous lung stem and progenitor cell compartments during fetal lung development, postnatal lung growth and in adulthood. Progressing stage by stage, the chapters on fetal lung development emphasize the integrated role of epithelial, stromal, vascular and neural cell elements in building a functional lung, while the subsequent chapters on adult lung regeneration describe the nature and properties of adult lung stem/progenitor cells distributed along the proximal-distal axis of the airway tree. The chapters on regulation of lung regeneration and repair discuss how regenerative cells interact with their niche microenvironment and how regulation of lung regeneration and repair in the steady state and following injury recapitulates ontogeny. And, lastly, the chapters on cellular therapies for lung disease and bioengineering the lung focus on promising emerging therapies and approaches in lung regenerative medicine. The scope of this volume of the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine series focuses on exploring the topic of building and rebuilding the lung from a cellular rather than a molecular perspective. Thus, the section on cellular therapies does not include extensive coverage of each of the numerous lung diseases, including cancer, which could be amenable to stem cell-based therapies, although the final chapter does include some discussion on the future prospects and challenges. All of the contributors are working on the cutting edge of the lung stem cell field, making this book essential reading for those with an interest in the field of lung stem cell biology and the potential role of cellular therapies and tissue bioengineering approaches in lung regenerative medicine, including biomedical scientists, graduate students, post-graduate researchers and respiratory clinicians.

The second edition of The Lung: Development, Aging and the Environment provides an understanding of the multi-faceted nature of lung development, aging, and how the environment influences these processes. As an essential resource to respiratory, pulmonary, and thoracic scientists and physicians it provides an interface between the "normal and "disease cluster of chapters, allowing for a natural complement to each other. The interface between different lung diseases affecting the pediatric lung also adds a useful source for comparing how different lung diseases share key pathophysiological features. This same complementarity comes across in the logical line up of chapters dealing with the "normal pediatric lung. New research, including cell-based strategies for infant lung function, epigenetics, and prenatal alcohol exposure on lung development and function are some of the important additions to this edition of this reference work. - Describes the normal processes of lung development, growth and aging - Considers the effects of the environmental contaminants in the air, water, soil, and diet on lung development, growth and health - Describes genetic factors involved in susceptibility to lung disease - Covers respiratory health risk in children