Wound Healing in Airways In Vivo

The airway epithelium is a target of inflammatory, environmental, and physical stimuli in diseases such as asthma and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Damage to the epithelium may compromise both the physical barrier and key metabolic functions. Repair involves the migration and spreading of cells over the basement membrane and the proliferation of new epithelial cells. Each step can be modulated actively by growth factors secreted by constitutive cells within the airway, or suppressed by mediators secreted by inflammatory cells that have migrated into the airway. Understanding these steps is essential to gaining insight into the repair process in airway epithelium.