Cell division and tissue repair following localized damage to the mammalian lung

Small local wounds on the surface of the mouse lung, produced by cauterization, healed by a typical reparative process involving cell migration and increased cell division in alveolar and bronchial tissues. The local cell division response closely resembled the compensatory cell division response in the same organ which follows unilateral pneumonectomy or unilateral collapse of the lung: initially there was an increase in the rate of DNA synthesis followed by an increased rate of entry into mitosis, both of these functions returning to normal levels within a few days. It is therefore suggested that both types of response are governed by a single regulatory mechanism. The results do not support the view that the rate of cell division is regulated by systemically-circulating mitotic control factors and it is proposed that changes in the cell division rate, both in the reparative and in the compensatory types of response, are determined by local alterations in the concentration of regulatory metabolites. The magnitude of the cell division response was much greater in bronchial than in alveolar tissue, a result which is consistent with the view that new alveolar tissue may be produced by the proliferation and diffentiation of bronchial cells.