Lung development builds the conducting airways and the thin exchange surface needed for breathing after birth. Growth and branching must be coordinated with cell differentiation, blood vessel development and preparation for air-filled function.
Mechanical conditions are part of the developmental signal. Live imaging and force perturbations linked fetal breathing movements and fluid loading to differentiation of type I alveolar cells, while local growth-factor responses helped other progenitors retain type II alveolar cell identity. This connects cell shape and tissue forces to acquisition of gas-exchange function.[ref]
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