Toxicology Faculty and their Research Curriculum in Toxicology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Paul Nettesheim Regulation of Differentiation and Function of Airway Epithelial Cells. Ciliated cells are an integral part of the pulmonary defense. They are readily damaged by toxic air contaminants.
Secretory cells produce the protective extracellular lining of the conducting airways.
Airway secretions are commonly altered by chemical and microbial agents affecting the respiratory tract. The regulation of mucin genes and of non-mucin secretions such as lysozyme and lactoferrin by growth factors, cytokines and retinoids are being investigated. Regulation of ciliated cell differentiation in cultures of rat tracheal epithelal cells.