Vamos alimentar o pulmão prematuro

Abstract

The lung is generally viewed as a static structure once growth has occurred. Its size or ability to regenerate becomes interesting with disease or physiologic stresses.The general teaching is that the adult human lung septates beginning at about 32-36 weeks of gestation to form alveoli, and this process continues until the child is several years of age. Subsequent growth is in lung size, with a constant number of about 500 million alveoli until about 20 years of age. Alveolar number and l u n g e l a s t i c i t y t h e n d e c r e a s e progressively with age. Alveolar loss by destruction in emphysema appears to be an irreversible process. For the pulmonary physician, emphysema means a destructive process associated with industrial exposures and smoking. Lungs with a similar appearance can result from a developmental delay resulting in an arrest of secondary septation. In multiple transgenic models in mice, inflammation during the period of alveolarization from about 3 days to 3 weeks of age will yield an emphysematous lung. 7 Inflammation interferes with lung development, but that interference may be an injury rather than a direct interference with development.