Proximal airway mucous cells of ovalbumin-sensitized and -challenged Brown Norway rats accumulate the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide.

Mucous cell hypersecretion and increased neuropeptide production play a role in the exacerbation of symptoms associated with asthma. The source of these neuropeptides have been confined to the contributions of small afferent nerves or possibly neuroendocrine cells. We tested the hypothesis that repeated exposure to allergen would alter the sources and abundance of neuropeptides in airways. Right middle lobes from rats (8 wk old) exposed to 2.5% ovalbumin (OVA) for five episodes (30 min each) or filtered air were inflation fixed with paraformaldehyde. The lobes were dissected to expose the airway tree, permeabilized with DMSO, and incubated in antibody to rat calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), followed with a fluorochrome-labeled second antibody. CGRP-positive structures were imaged via confocal microscopy. Airways were later embedded in plastic and sectioned for cell identification. In animals challenged with OVA, CGRP-positive cells, not neuroendocrine or neuronal in origin (confirmed by a lack of protein gene product 9.5 signal), were recorded along the axial path. In section, this fluorescent signal was localized to granules within epithelial cells. Alcian blue/periodic acid-Schiff staining of these same sections positively identify these cells as mucous cells. Mucous cells of animals not challenged with OVA were not positive for CGRP. We conclude that episodic allergen exposure results in the accumulation of CGRP within mucous cells, creating a new source for the release of this neuropeptide within the airway.

Postnatal remodeling of the neural components of the epithelial-mesenchymal trophic unit in the proximal airways of infant rhesus monkeys exposed to ozone and allergen.

Nerves and neuroendocrine cells located within the airway epithelium are ideally situated to sample a changing airway environment, to transmit that information to the central nervous system, and to promote trophic interactions between epithelial and mesenchymal cellular and acellular components. We tested the hypothesis that the environmental stresses of ozone (O(3)) and house dust mite allergen (HDMA) in atopic infant rhesus monkeys alter the distribution of airway nerves. Midlevel bronchi and bronchioles from 6-month-old infant monkeys that inhaled filtered air (FA), house dust mite allergen HDMA, O(3), or HDMA + O(3) for 11 episodes (5 days each, 0.5 ppm O(3), 8 h/day followed by 9 days recovery) were examined using immunohistochemistry for the presence of Protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5), a nonspecific neural indicator, and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Along the axial path between the sixth and the seventh intrapulmonary airway generations, there were small significant (P < 0.05) decrements in the density of epithelial nerves in monkeys exposed to HDMA or O(3), while in monkeys exposed to HDMA + O(3) there was a greater significant (P < 0.05) reduction in epithelial innervation. In animals exposed to O(3) or HDMA + O(3) there was a significant increase in the number of PGP 9.5 positive/CGRP negative cells that were anchored to the basal lamina and emitted projections in primarily the lateral plain and often intertwined with projections and cell bodies of other similar cells. We conclude that repeated cycles of acute injury and repair associated with the episodic pattern of ozone and allergen exposure alter the normal development of neural innervation of the epithelial compartment and the appearance of a new population of undefined PGP 9.5 positive cells within the epithelium.

The three-dimensional distribution of nerves along the entire intrapulmonary airway tree of the adult rat and the anatomical relationship between nerves and neuroepithelial bodies.

Using airway microdissection and three-dimensional confocal microscopy techniques in combination with the immunomarkers protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), we defined the distribution of small afferent nerves fibers and all nerves throughout the intrapulmonary airways, along with the distribution of airway neuroendocrine cells and neuroepithelial bodies. We found (i) the presence of CGRP-and PGP 9.5-positive structures along the entire intrapulmonary airway tree of adult rats, (ii) decreasing nerve density from more proximal to more distal generations of conducting airways, (iii) the presence of nerve fibers in terminal bronchioles, (iv) the asymmetrical distribution of nerves within a single generation of intrapulmonary airway with regard to associated vessels, (v) the frequent interchange of single nerve fibers across epithelial and sub-epithelial compartments without termination, and (vi) a definably intimate relationship between afferent nerves and neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) (i.e., 58% of NEBs studied were observed to have nerve fibers coursing through them, indicating direct connections). We conclude that the distribution of nervous elements (nerve fibers and neuroendocrine cells) within the intrapulmonary airways is highly heterogeneous, varying between airway levels and locally within a specific airway level.