Pulmonary Neuroendocrine Cells
Pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNEC) are specialized airway epithelial cells that occur as solitary cells or as clusters called neuroepithelial bodies (NEB) in the lung. They are located in the nasal respiratory epithelium, laryngeal mucosa and throughout the entire respiratory tract from the trachea to the terminal airways. PNEC and NEB exist from fetal stage and neonatal stage in lungs airway area.
These cells are bottle- or flask-like in shape, and reach from the basement membrane to the lumen. They can be distinguished by their profile of bioactive amines and peptides, namely serotonin, calcitonin, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), chromogranin A, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), and cholecystokinin.
These cells can be the source of several types of lung cancer.
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