Airway responsiveness to inhaled mediators: relationship to epithelial thickness and secretory cell number.

Naturally occurring variations in airway responsiveness to inhaled mediators were correlated with various anatomic indexes thought to be related to airway responsiveness. Specifically, the airways of 2 relatively unresponsive and 3 relatively responsive dogs were compared in terms of epithelial thickness, secretory cell number, smooth muscle thickness, and airway mucous gland number and size. More responsive dogs were found to have thinner epithelium and higher secretory cell counts than less responsive dogs. No significant differences between the 2 groups were noted with respect to smooth muscle thickness or mucous gland number and size. Although these observations identify an association between these anatomic features and airway responsiveness, it does not imply a causal relationship.