Dynamics of neuroepithelial body (NEB) formation in developing hamster lung: light microscopic autoradiography after 3H-thymidine labeling in vivo.

Autoradiographs were prepared from lungs of a newborn Syrian golden hamster exposed continuously to 3H-thymidine for the final 4.5 days of a normal 16 day gestation. Silver grains were counted over nuclei of 1,298 small-granule endocrine cells in 165 neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) in the right upper lobe and along the left axial bronchus, where nodal NEBs occurred at branch points and internodal NEBs in the airway between them. Nuclei of 1,005 nonendocrine airway epithelial cells were counted next to the NEBs. Label was distributed differently in the two populations: All nonendocrine cells were labeled, whereas many endocrine cells were not. In NEBs of the right upper lobe, total label (net grains/nuclear profile) averaged only 23% of that in nonendocrine cells. Along the left axial bronchus, mean label in nonendocrine cells and internodal NEBs rose 10-fold between the hilum and the periphery. Increases for both populations were linear and parallel, but total label in the NEBs was consistently lower than that in the surrounding epithelium by 15 grains/nuclear profile. Nodal NEBs were more lightly labeled than those of the internodes, consistent with their earlier formation. A few very heavily labeled small-granule cells (0.9%) occurred singly in the periphery of large, otherwise lightly labeled NEBs. Statistically these belonged to the labeling distribution of nearby nonendocrine cells. In contrast to NEBs, neurons in 10 bronchial ganglia of the right lung were virtually unlabeled. These arise from vagal neural crest and seem to comprise an entirely distinct population. We conclude that NEBs belong intrinsically to pulmonary endoderm, not neural crest. During fetal life each develops from a cell or cells programmed to stop dividing well ahead of other elements in the epithelium. Their formation is linked closely to early proliferation of the bronchial tree and is an integral part of growth and differentiation of the airway lining. After a wave of initial formation has passed down the airway, small-granule cells are added slowly to mature NEBs, probably through differentiation from adjoining airway epithelial cells--a potential mechanism for cell replacement in adult life.