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Connective matrix organization in human pulmonary fibrosis

Collagen polymorphism analysis in fibrotic deposits by immunohistological methods

  • Published:
Virchows Archiv B

Summary

In the interstitium of the alveolar septa in the peripheral parts of the lung, four molecular types of collagen (I, III, IV and V) each with different morphological appearances, can be identified. The structural integrity of collagens accounts for the physiological efficiency of the lung. Fibrous thickening of alveolar septa is an invariable result of various diseases affecting the interstitium of the lung.

The light and electron microscopic findings, and the immunological typing of collagens in six cases of fibrotic alveolar disease, are described. In the alveolar septa, two different compartments (the alveolo-capillary junction and the supportive axis) were affected by fibrosis: the alveolo-capillary junction was widened by the addition of interstitial collagens to basement membranes. In the axis, the increase of interstitial (types I and III) collagen gave rise to different patterns of connective matrix organization, graded as Loose or Dense depending on quantitative alterations of the type I/III ratio.

The mode of organization of the fibrotic lung connective matrix, which depends on the quality of deposits in the matrix, may be correlated with the evolution of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, in terms of its stability, remodelling ability and reversibility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Patologia, Hospital Universitario, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

    Christina Takiya

  2. Laboratoire de Pathologie Cellulaire du Foie, CNRS-ERA 819, Institut Pasteur de Lyon, 77, rue Pasteur, 69365, Lyon, France

    Simone Peyrol & Jean-Alexis Grimaud

  3. Service de Pneumologie, Hôpital Lyon-Sud, 69310, Pierre-Benite, France

    Jean-François Cordier

Authors
  1. Christina Takiya
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  2. Simone Peyrol
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  3. Jean-François Cordier
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  4. Jean-Alexis Grimaud
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Takiya, C., Peyrol, S., Cordier, JF. et al. Connective matrix organization in human pulmonary fibrosis. Virchows Archiv B Cell Pathol 44, 223–240 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02890172

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02890172

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