Well-controlled mucosal exudation of plasma proteins in airways with intact and regenerating epithelium

Superficial, systemic microcirculations, distinct from the pulmonary circulation, supply the mucosae of human nasal and conducting airways. Non-injurious, inflammatory challenges of the airway mucosa cause extravasation without overt mucosal oedema. Instead, likely reflecting minimal increases in basolateral hydrostatic pressure, circulating proteins/peptides of all sizes are transmitted paracellularly across the juxtaposed epithelial barrier. Thus, small volumes of extravasated, unfiltered bulk plasma appear on the mucosal surface at nasal and bronchial sites of challenge. Importantly, the plasma-exuding mucosa maintains barrier integrity against penetrability of inhaled molecules. Thus, one-way epithelial penetrability, strict localization, and well-controlled magnitude and duration are basic characteristics of the plasma exudation response in human intact airways. In vivo experiments in human-like airways demonstrate that local plasma exudation is also induced by non-sanguineous removal of epithelium over an intact basement membrane. This humoral response results in a protective, repair-promoting barrier kept together by a fibrin-fibronectin net. Plasma exudation stops once the provisional barrier is substituted by a new cellular cover consisting of speedily migrating repair cells, which may emanate from all types of epithelial cells bordering the denuded patch. Exuded plasma on the surface of human airways reflects physiological microvascular-epithelial cooperation in first line mucosal defense at sites of intact and regenerating epithelium.