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Updated: Sep 30, 2026

Mouse Embryonic Lung Culture, A System to Evaluate the Molecular Mechanisms of Branching
Published on: June 30, 2010
Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions in lung development and repair: are modeling and remodeling the same process?
F Demayo1, P Minoo, C G Plopper
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Abstract:
We propose that lung morphogenesis and repair are characterized by complex cell-cell interactions of endodermal and mesodermal origin, leading to (or returning back to) an alveolar structure that can effectively exchange gases between the circulation and the alveolar space. We provide the developmental basis for cell/molecular control of lung development and disease, what is known about growth and transcription factors in normal and abnormal lung development, and how endodermal and mesodermal cell origins interact during lung development and disease. The global mechanisms that mediate mesenchymal-epithelial interactions and the plasticity of mesenchymal cells in normal lung development and remodeling provide a functional genomic model that may bring these concepts closer together. We present a synopsis followed by a vertical integration of the developmental and injury/repair mechanisms.
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