A. (2015). Wellington Cardoso’s group proposed that Notch is required to maintain balance in the proximal\distal axis during the early stage of lung development based on the results of ex vivo embryonic lung cultures (Tsao et?al., 2008). In these experiments, Notch activation was globally inhibited by preventing \secretase cleavage of Notch receptors with a \secretase inhibitor (DAPT). Disruption of the Notch pathway in ex vivo cultures of E8.5 or E11.5 lungs resulted in expansion of the distal progenitor population (Sox2 negative) and the increase in ectopic budding in the more proximal region. However, two issues with these experiments must be addressed. First, the authors inhibited Notch signaling globally with pharmacological DAPT treatment, which makes it difficult to elucidate the detailed mechanisms Chimaphilin by which Notch signaling affects proximo\distal axis formation. Second, they used ex vivo lung cultures, which might influence the effects of Notch inhibition in many ways. To address these issues, Cardoso’s and Morimoto’s group assessed the effects of Notch inhibition on airway epithelial cells using mice with endoderm\specific conditional KO. Notch\mediated alternative cell fate selection of club vs. ciliated cells was observed, but impaired proximo\distal patterning and branching morphogenesis were not observed (Morimoto et?al., 2010; Tsao et?al., 2009). Collectively, the negative effects of global Notch inhibition on proximo\distal patterning and branching likely reflect loss of the vascular endothelial network and/or the associated smooth muscle cells (SMCs), which are essential for regulating branching morphogenesis Chimaphilin and maintaining distal fates (Morimoto et?al., 2010). 2.3. Notch coordinates alveolar development There is accumulating evidence that Notch plays important roles in alveolar development. The first paper assessing the effects of Notch3 overexpression on distal epithelial cell differentiation during development was published in 2003 (Dang, Eichenberger, Gonzalez, Olson, & Carbone, 2003). In this paper, the Notch3 ICD was overexpressed under control of the surfactant protein C (SPC) promotor/enhancer using transgenic technology; SPC is a marker of alveolar type II (AT2) Chimaphilin cells. This transgenic mouse showed altered lung morphology, such as dilated cysts with cuboidal epithelial cells. Examinations with differentiated cell markers and electron microscopy revealed that the majority of the distal epithelial cells were immature, suggesting that Notch3 overexpression blocks alveolar development (Figure?4a). A similar phenotype was observed in mice with NICD1 overexpression (Guseh et?al., 2009). These results suggest that NICD overexpression in developing epithelial cells impairs the commitment to alveolar epithelial cells and results in a cystic epithelium. However, epithelial cell\specific Notch inhibition during prenatal development did not produce an abnormal phenotype in the distal region (Morimoto et?al., 2010). These contradictory results between the Notch gain\ and loss\of\function experiments may imply off\target effects of abnormal Notch activation in the developing epithelium that do not reflect the physiological function of the Notch pathway. In addition, Rbpj conditional KO within the mesenchyme using did not disrupt prenatal lung development in the distal region, although the recruitment and specification of arterial vascular SMCs (vSMCs) were somewhat impaired. A detailed phenotypic analysis of the loss of Notch signaling in alveologenesis at the postnatal stage was published in 2016 (Tsao et?al. 2016). In the alveolarization stage (P0 to P14), a Rabbit Polyclonal to Cortactin (phospho-Tyr466) secondary septum forms through the interaction of alveolar epithelial cells with myofibroblasts to dramatically expand the alveolar region for effective gas exchange. In this study, Pofut1 or Notch2 was ablated in fetal lung epithelial cells. Emphysema\like cystic abnormalities were observed in both mutants after birth (Figure?4e,f, Table?1). Canonical marker and morphological analyses in the postnatal stage exposed that the secondary septation was impaired in the mutants, mainly due to the decreased proliferation and maturation of AT2 cells. In addition, the proliferation and differentiation of myofibroblasts were impaired, in part due to the decrease in manifestation in mutant epithelial cells; PDGF\AA is an essential transmission that induces the proliferation and differentiation of myofibroblast Chimaphilin progenitors. Collectively, Notch activation is essential for appropriate alveolar development after birth, especially for secondary septa formation (Tsao et?al., 2016). Much like these mutants, Jagged1 conditional KO in the AT2 cell lineage using Spc\rtTA also produced an emphysema\like phenotype with impaired septation (Zhang et?al., 2013). This study proposed.