Rnn. Han et al., INSULIN-LIKE GROWTH-FACTOR-I AND TYPE-I INSULIN-LIKE GROWTH-FACTOR RECEPTOR IN 85-PERCENT O-2-EXPOSED RAT LUNG, American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology, 15(1), 1996, pp. 139-149
The expression of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and insulinlike
growth factor II (IGF-II) was studied in the lungs of adult rats expo
sed to air or 85% O-2, using Northern analysis, in situ hybridization,
and immunohistochemistry. Distribution of the type I insulin-like gro
wth factor receptor (IGF-IR) was assessed by immunohistochemistry. IGF
-I, but not IGF-II, was localized to airway epithelium, while IGF-IR w
as localized to perivascular and peribronchial cells, in the lungs of
animals breathing air. IGF-II mRNA did not increase with exposure to 8
5% O-2, but IGF-II was localized to sites of perivascular edema and to
occasional peribronchial cells. A widespread increase in IGF-I mRNA a
nd peptide was seen after both a 6-day and a 14-day exposure to O-2, W
ith maximal expression in the airway and alveolar epithelium, and less
er expression in interstitial cells. After 6 days in 85% O-2, increase
d IGF-IR immunoreactivity was localized to both perivascular and perib
ronchial cells and to endothelial cells. By 14 days in 85% O-2, IGF-IR
immunoreactivity was also localized to alveolar epithelial cells. The
distribution of IGF-IR immunoreactivity was consistent with a paracri
ne role for IGF-I in O-2-mediated pulmonary hypertension and airway hy
perreactivity, by mediating smooth muscle cell hyperplasia, as well as
a role in endothelial cell repair and late pneumocyte hyperplasia. Th
e relative insensitivity of IGF-IR immunohistochemistry did not allow
us to identify cells with low abundance IGF-IR, and potential cellular
targets for IGF-I actions after O-2-exposure may be even more extensi
ve than those recognized here.