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Summary Bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) were performed before and after 3 weeks of housing in 5 horses suffering from COPD and 5 normal horses. In the two groups, the total number of cells recovered remained unchanged after stabling. The most common cell populations in BAL fluid of control animals were alveolar macrophages (46.4%) and lymphocytes (44.9%). The percentage of neutrophils increased after stabling from 8.7% to 27.6%. In COPD horses, lymphocytes predominated (40.7%) in animals at pasture with neutrophils increasing from 29.4% to 71.6% after stabling. After fractionation by Percoll density gradient, alveolar macrophages and neutrophils from normal and COPD horses had a similar density distribution. After stabling, these cells from normal horses were increased in the low density layers, while those from COPD horses were predominantly in the hyperdense layers. Therefore, BAL cells obtained from COPD animals at pasture and after stabling differ from those of control horses in the same environment, not only in their populations but also in their buoyant densities. These differences could be related to different states of cellular activation and perhaps be responsible for disease activity in the COPD horses.

The involvement of genes controlling embryonic processes in the etiology of diseases often escapes attention because of the focus given to their inherent developmental role. Hoxa5 belongs to the Hox gene family encoding transcription factors known for their role in skeletal patterning. Hoxa5 is required for embryonic respiratory tract morphogenesis. We now show that the loss of Hoxa5 function has severe repercussions on postnatal lung development. Hoxa5؊/؊ lungs present an emphysema-like morphology because of impaired alveogenesis. Chronic inflammation characteristics, including goblet cell hyperplasia, mucus hypersecretion, and recruitment of inflammatory cells, were also observed. Altered cell specification during lung morphogenesis triggered goblet cell anomalies. In addition, the defective motility of alveolar myofibroblast precursors in the embryonic lung led to the mispositioning of the alveolar myofibroblasts and to abnormal elastin deposition postnatally. Both goblet cell hyperplasia and elastic fiber abnormalities contributed to the chronic physiopathological features of Hoxa5 ؊/؊ lungs. They constituted an attractive stimulus to recruit activated macrophages that in turn generated a positive feedback loop that perpetuated macrophage accumulation in the lung. The present work corroborates the notion that altered Hox gene expression may predispose to lung pathologies. Lung morphogenesis relies on finely orchestrated processes that initiate from the outpocketing and the elongation of the foregut endoderm into the surrounding mesenchyme. The lung bud then branches extensively giving rise to saccules that expend and subdivide to ultimately produce alveoli. In the mouse, the main stem bronchi form at approximately embryonic day (E) 9.5, and ramification organized by signaling centers shapes the respiratory tree during the pseudoglandular period that extends from E14.0 to E16.5. At late gestational stages, saccules are found at the end of each terminus of the pulmonary tree. The last step of lung morphogenesis occurs between postnatal day (P) 5 and P30, and it aims at multiplying the respiratory surface for vital gas exchanges after birth by modifying the distal lung architecture through the process of alveogenesis. During each step of lung development, the concerted action of transcriptional regulators, signaling molecules, their associated receptors and downstream effectors governs branching morphogenesis and lung maturation by integrating cellular proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and migration.