Intrapulmonary airway morphology in three species of monkeys: a correlated scanning and transmission electron microscopic study.

Intrapulmonary airways were studied in rhesus (Macaca mulatta), stumptail (Macaca arctoides), and bonnet (Macaca radiata) monkeys by correlated scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Lobar, segmental, and subsegmental bronchi in all three macaques were lined by pseudostratified columnar epithelium composed primarily of ciliated cells, mucous cells, and basal cells. Neuronal processes and cells containing dense-core vesicles were also observed. Terminal bronchioles in rhesus and stumptail monkeys were short and only developed to a single generation. Terminal bronchioles were moderately longer in bonnet monkeys and were occasionally developed to two generations. Terminal bronchioles in bonnet and stumptail monkeys were lined by ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium which included nonciliated bronchiolar epithelial (Clara) cells. The arrangement of epithelium in terminal bronchioles differed slightly in rhesus monkeys. All three species had long respiratory bronchioles. They were lined by simple, nonciliated cuboidal and squamous epithelium which usually did not contain secretory droplets. Capillaries were often observed immediately below the luminal epithelium. Cuboidal cells containing dense-core vesicles were a rare component of the epithelium of respiratory bronchioles in stumptail monkeys. Alveolar ducts were lined by an epithelium composed of type I and type II cells. The results of this study indicate that there is general similarity in the mucosal structure of bronchi and respiratory bronchioles between macaques and man but that there are differences in the number of generations and epithelial lining of terminal bronchioles.