Ultrastructural changes in the alveolar epithelium in response to mycobacterial infection.
Electron microscopic examination of the lung of mice infected with a virulent strain of M. bovis (Ravenel) revealed marked alterations in the alveolar epithelial cells, particularly Type 2 cells (granular pneumocytes), in addition to the development of interstitial and intra-alveolar granuloma. Unlike the feature in uninfected mice, more than one Type 2 epithelial cells were often found adjacent to one another within a single alveolus. Some of these cells showed mitotic figures. Their characteristic lamellar inclusions were morphologically altered.
D000818:Animals; D002196:Capillaries / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004848:Epithelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008938:Mitosis; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000473:pathology*