July 8th, 2008
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This news item is more than a year old. Links, graphics, content, medical information, and statistics may be out of date. We invite you to search, visit our homepage, or contact us to find more current information on the topic you're looking for.Mystery of how lungs grow is solved
Cells 'feel' the pressure to grow
By William J. Cromie, Harvard News Office
The puzzle of how lungs grow has been solved. Scientists watching the process in mice embryos have found that budding and branching of new air sacs is driven by the mechanical stretching of individual cells.
What's more, they demonstrated that this growth can be adjusted by manipulating mechanical forces involved in the cells' skeleton, a framework of fine tubes and filaments that give the cell its shape and let it move.
More information on how the lungs work