The role of pulmonary lipofibroblasts in alveolar septation

Objective: A PDGFRα knock-out prevented the differentiation of alveolar myofibroblasts and completely blocked secondary septa formation. This gene and the lipofibroblasts have been proposed to be essential for septation, peak in number during septation and regress significantly once septation is done. Whether PDGFRα expressing precursors are differentiating into both lineages of alveolar fibroblasts (lipo- and myofibroblasts) during lung development is not known as well as the cellular differentiation and transition into one or the other fibroblast type is unsolved. The aims of this work are to understand the de…