Late appearance of a type I alveolar epithelial cell marker during fetal rat lung development

Recent studies in fetal lung using immunological and molecular probes have revealed type I and type II cell phenotypic markers in primordial lung epithelial cells prior to the morphogenesis of these cell types. We have recently developed monoclonal antibodies specific for adult type I cells. To evaluate further the temporal appearance of the type I cell phenotype during alveolar epithelial cell ontogeny, we analyzed fetal lung development using one of our monoclonal antibodies (mAb VIII B2). The epitope recognized by mAb VIII B2 first appears in the canalicular stage of fetal lung development, at approx. embryonic day 19 (E19), in occasional, faintly stained tubules. Staining with this type I cell probe becomes more intense and more widespread with increasing gestational age, during which time the pattern of staining changes. Initially, all cells of the distal epithelial tubules are uniformly labelled along their apical and basolateral surfaces. As morphological differentiation of the alveolar epithelium proceeds, type I cell immunoreactivity appears to become restricted to the apical surface of the primitive type I cells in a pattern approaching that seen in the mature lung. We concurrently analyzed developing fetal lung with an antiserum to surfactant apoprotein-A (alpha-SP-A). Consistent with the findings of others, labeling of SP-A was first detectable in scattered cuboidal cells at E18. Careful examination of the double-labeled specimens suggested that some cells were reactive with both the VIII B2 and SP-A antibodies, particularly at E20. Confocal microscopic analysis of such sections from E20 lung confirmed this impression. Three populations of cells were detected: cells labeled only with alpha-SP-A, cells labeled only with mAb VIII B2, and a smaller subset of cells labeled by both.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)