title: Quantitative assessment of bronchiolar smooth muscle in healthy and diseased porcine lungs.
abstract: Smooth muscle cells are major components of bronchiolar wall. Bronchiolar smooth muscle is reported to increase in some veterinary pulmonary disorders, but such assumption is not supported by detailed morphometric analyses. The present investigation aimed at quantitatively evaluating bronchiolar smooth muscle in healthy and diseased pig lungs. Our results suggest that bronchiolar smooth muscle cells significantly modify in size and number under different disease conditions, namely parasitic bronchopneumonia and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae-induced enzootic pneumonia. Further studies are needed in order to understand the pathogenesis and the functional impact of such changes.
authors.affiliation: University of Teramo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Piazza A. Moro 45, 64100 Teramo, Italy. gmarruchella@unite.it
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marruchella
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bernabò
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valbonetti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001980:Bronchi / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D001996:Bronchopneumonia / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008681:Metastrongyloidea; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D045705:Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae; D045729:Pneumonia of Swine, Mycoplasmal / Q000473:pathology; D017206:Strongylida Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000473:pathology*