A scanning and transmission electron microscopic study of the development of the surface structure of neuroepithelial bodies in the mouse lung

Abstract

Neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) are groups of neuroepithelial (NE) cells that are localized on mounds on the bronchiolar epithelium of the lung. The present study examined NEBs in mice ranging in age from 2 days before birth to 80 days after birth. The position and surface architecture of NEBs was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In foetal mice, 2 days before birth, NEBs were distinguished from the rest of the bronchiolar epithelium by a slight elevation of non-ciliated Clara-like cells arranged in a cobblestone-like pattern. The exposed surface of the NEB was identified by small protrusions with regular microvilli intermittently located at the base of deep clefts between the Clara-like cells. The surface of the Clara-like cells had fewer and smaller microvilli and could be easily distinguished from the apical surface of the NEB. Before birth, the surface of all of the apical cells was covered by regularly placed microvilli, however after birth some of the more prominently positional apical cells revealed a bare patch at the centre of the portion of apical cell exposed to the lumen of the lung. As the mice aged there was an increase in the number of apical cell protrusions observed with centrally positioned bare patches. These two morphologically distinct surfaces of apical cells may have separate specialized functions. The exposed surfaces of apical cells were often observed in pairs and this feature has been observed in various sensory organs providing support for chemoreceptive function. However small bright spheres resembling vesicles were frequently observed on the lumenal surface of apical cells of the centrally placed bare patch. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed the presence of vesicles on the surface of apical cells and due to their location these vesicles were thought to contain a substance secreted into the lumen of the lung by apical cells. The significance of the bare region on the apical cells is not clear in terms of the proposed chemoreceptive function usually attributed to NEBs. It may be possible that the morphological changes observed in apical cells after birth are more appropriate for secretion of a substance into the lumen of the lung than for chemoreception. This is supported by the observation in the present study of vesicles lying on the lumenal surface of the bare region of the apical cell, however the mechanism for secretion of whole vesicles is not clear and requires further investigation.