Oral inhalation results in pulmonary drug targeting and thereby reduces systemic side
effects, making it the preferred means of drug delivery for the treatment of respiratory …

The polysaccharide chitosan and the water soluble chitosan derivative N, N, N-trimethyl
chitosan (TMC) have been widely investigated as permeation enhancers of mucosal …

Robust in vitro lung models are required for risk assessment to measure key events leading
to respiratory diseases. Primary normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) represent a …

Models of the outer epithelia of the human body-namely the skin, the intestine and the lung-
have found valid applications in both research and industrial settings as attractive …

Background As the multipotent progenitor population of the airway epithelium, human
airway basal cells (BC) replenish the specialized differentiated cell populations of the …

Rationale: Progress has been made in understanding how the cystic fibrosis (CF) basic
defect produces lung infection susceptibility. However, it remains unclear why CF …

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are important components of our first line of defense.
Induction of AMPs such as LL-37 of the cathelicidin family might provide a novel approach in …

Postpartum, infants have not yet established a fully functional adaptive immune system and
are at risk of acquiring infections. Hence, newborns are dependent on the innate immune …

Tight junctions (TJs) play a key role in maintaining bronchial epithelial integrity, including
apical-basolateral polarity and paracellular trafficking. Patients with chronic obstructive …

Background Lungs develop from the fetal digestive tract where epithelium invades the
vascular rich stroma in a process called branching morphogenesis. In organogenesis …