The structural differentiation of the alveolar lining cells. I. Electron microscopic studies on the prospective alveolar epithelium in the lung tissue of rat embryos

An electron microscopic study on the type I pneumocyte in the cat: pre-natal morphogenesis

This investigation describes the pre-natal morphogenesis of the type I pneumocyte subsequent to its differentiation from pulmonary epithelium. Cells lining subpleural alveolar septa were photographed from serial sections with the electron microscope, and a three-dimensional representation of each cell was obtained by transferring the contours of the cell membranes from montages to transparent plastic sheets which were then spaced to scale and stacked. The results of this study indicate that: The nascent blood-air barrier of a 50-day reconstructed cell was twice as thick as the average definitive barrier; definitive barrier thickness was observed in some areas in a 63-day reconstructed cell; the amorphous component of elastic tissue which appears peripherally in septal connective tissue during pre-natal morphogenesis may be directly juxtaposed to the basal lamina of the alveolar epithelium; the orientation of the cell junction between a pneumocyte and its neighboring cells, as observed in sections of alveolar septa, changes as the contour of the pneumocyte changes from simple abutment to overlapping patterns.

An electron microscopic study on the type I pneumocyte in the cat: differentiation

This investigation describes the differentiation of the type I pneumocyte from undifferentiated pulmonary epithelium. Cells lining subpleural alveolar septa were photographed from serial sections with the electron microscope and a three dimensional representation of each cell was obtained by transferring the contours of the cell membranes from micrographs to transparent plastic sheets which were then spaced to scale and stacked. The results of this study indicate that: (1) the only reliable criterion for differentiating between type I and type II cells is the commencement of attenuation of the type I cell; (2) differentiation of the type I cell occurs via the formation of one or more cytoplasmic attenuations that eventually fuse peripherally, thereby surrounding the unattenuated cell soma; (3) with respect to individual cells, blood-air barriers tend to form in distal areas of the attenuating cytoplasm before proximal areas; (4) both type I and type II pneumocytes retain certain characteristics that reveal their common origin.