Pten controls lung morphogenesis, bronchioalveolar stem cells, and onset of lung adenocarcinomas in mice
J. Clin. Invest. Shigehisa Yanagi, et al. 117:2929 doi:10.1172/JCI31854 [Go to this article.]

Figure 4
Bronchiolar and alveolar epithelial cell hyperplasia and increased cell size in SOPten^flox/flox mice that received doxycycline postnatally. (A) Histologic analyses of lungs from WT(P21–P27) and SOPten^flox/flox(P21–P27) and WT(P84–P90) and SOPten^flox/flox(P84–P90) mice. Mild epithelial cell hyperplasia in alveoli and a bronchiole could be observed at both time points. Scale bars: 50 μm. (B) Transmission electron micrographs of the lung septa from WT(P21–P27) and SOPten^flox/flox(P21–P27) and WT(P84–P90) and SOPten^flox/flox(P84–P90) mice. The increased sizes of AE-I and AE-II cells can be seen in SOPten^flox/flox lungs at both time points. Lamellar bodies and apical microvilli, which are signature structures of AE-II cells, are visible within the AE-II cells of both WT and SOPten^flox/flox lungs. Scale bars: 5 μm. (C) IHC analysis of SP-C, AQP5, and CCSP expression in lungs of WT(P21–P27) and SOPten^flox/flox(P21–P27) mice (left panels) and WT(P84–P90) and SOPten^flox/flox(P84–P90) mice (right panels). Although the numbers of AE-I and AE-II cells were increased in lungs of SOPten^flox/flox(P21–P27) and SOPten^flox/flox(P84–P90) mice, no significant differences between WT and SOPten^flox/flox mice were observed in the staining intensity of SP-C, AQP5, or CCSP at either time point. Scale bars: 50 μm.