Corticosteroid administration during radiation pneumonitis in mice markedly improves the physiologic abnormalities and decreases mortality, an effect that has been attributed to the stimulation of surfactant synthesis and secretion by type 2 alveolar epithelial cells. In the present experiments we explored the effects of corticosteroids on the replicative activity of type 2 cells of lethally irradiated lungs at the height of the radiation reaction. The labeling index of type 2 cells of irradiated mice was increased threefold above that of sham-irradiated controls. Corticosteroids given continuously from 10 weeks after thoracic irradiation further increased the type 2 cell labeling index another threefold above that of irradiated untreated mice. The enhanced reproductive activity of type 2 cells following thoracic irradiation is seen as a protective response that is augmented by corticosteroids, whose effect may be both to improve the physiology of the alveolar surface and to maintain the population of alveolar epithelial cells. The bearing of this result on the controversial role of the type 2 cell as a target in radiation pneumonitis is discussed.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
1 September 1988
Research Article|
September 01 1988
Experimental Radiation Pneumonitis: Corticosteroids Increase the Replicative Activity of Alveolar Type 2 Cells
Radiat Res (1988) 115 (3): 543–549.
Citation
Nicholas J. Gross, K. Roy Narine; Experimental Radiation Pneumonitis: Corticosteroids Increase the Replicative Activity of Alveolar Type 2 Cells. Radiat Res 1 September 1988; 115 (3): 543–549. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3577303
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionCiting articles via
Commonalities Between COVID-19 and Radiation Injury
Carmen I. Rios, David R. Cassatt, Brynn A. Hollingsworth, Merriline M. Satyamitra, Yeabsera S. Tadesse, Lanyn P. Taliaferro, Thomas A. Winters, Andrea L. DiCarlo
DNA Damage Response Genes and the Development of Cancer Metastasis
Constantinos G. Broustas, Howard B. Lieberman
Germicidal Efficacy and Mammalian Skin Safety of 222-nm UV Light
Manuela Buonanno, Brian Ponnaiya, David Welch, Milda Stanislauskas, Gerhard Randers-Pehrson, Lubomir Smilenov, Franklin D. Lowy, David M. Owens, David J. Brenner
Radiofrequency Fields and Calcium Movements Into and Out of Cells
Andrew Wood, Ken Karipidis
Predictive Radiation Oncology – A New NCI–DOE Scientific Space and Community
Jeffrey C. Buchsbaum, David A. Jaffray, Demba Ba, Lynn L. Borkon, Christine Chalk, Caroline Chung, Matthew A. Coleman, C. Norman Coleman, Maximilian Diehn, Kelvin K. Droegemeier, Heiko Enderling, Michael G. Espey, Emily J. Greenspan, Christopher M. Hartshorn, Thuc Hoang, H. Timothy Hsiao, Cynthia Keppel, Nathan W. Moore, Fred Prior, Eric A. Stahlberg, Georgia Tourassi, Karen E. Willcox