Neuroepithelial body increases in bleomycin-treated mice

Neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) serve a niche for lung stem cells and proliferate in a variety of pulmonary diseases. We hypothesize that NEBs play an important role in lung injury repair processes, such as during pulmonary fibrosis. To test this hypothesis, we examined NEBs in a bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis mouse model. We divided FVB/NJ mice into bleomycin-treated (BL) and normal saline-treated (NS) groups. Two weeks after intravenous treatment, we immune-stained NEBs with anti-calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in whole mount preparations and found that the number of NEBs per unit area of airway almost tripled in the BL group (1.11±0.28 number/mm(2); n=5) compared with the NS group (0.32±0.14 number/mm(2); n=4, p=0.001). The size of NEBs increased significantly in the BL group. Our findings support that NEBs play an important role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis.