UDC

611.233+591.861:591.423:616-018.6

Authors

Yuriy V. Agafonov*, Andrey L. Zashikhin*, Ol’ga V. Dolgikh*
*Northern State Medical University (Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation)

Abstract

Smooth muscle tissue (SMT) plays a significant role in pathological lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma. However, human pathology cannot be investigated without experiments with laboratory animals. Thus, the question of extrapolating experimental data from animals to humans is very important. This paper aimed to compare the structural and metabolic characteristics of bronchial SMT in humans and laboratory animals. The comparative analysis of isolated bronchial smooth muscle cells of human, rat and guinea pig was performed using morphometric and cytophotometric methods. Morphometric parameters, the content of DNA in the nucleus, and total cytoplasmic protein of myocytes were determined. It was found that bronchial SMT in humans and laboratory animals has a similar pattern of structural organization but differs in the population structure, proliferative activity and adaptive capacity. In SMT composition we identified subpopulations of small, medium size and large myocytes, differing in their morphometric and metabolic properties. The group of small cells consists of growing myocytes, whereas the group of medium size cells is represented by mature myocytes accounting for the largest part of the population. Only a minority of the cells belong to the group of large myocytes, characterized by high sensitivity to damaging agents and presenting the terminal stage of myoblastic differentiation. We found that human bronchial SMT, compared to laboratory animals, has a bigger share of small myocytes and a higher content of hyperploid cells and cytoplasmic protein. Thus, it can be concluded that human bronchial SMT has greater adaptive capacity.

Keywords

smooth muscle cells, human bronchial smooth muscle tissue, rat bronchial smooth muscle tissue, guinea pig bronchial smooth muscle tissue

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