A new study on mice found that the growth of these taste bud cells may be related to the long-term problems of lung function after influenza. Although further research is needed to confirm human findings, Andrew Vaughan, a biologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement: "Nevertheless, taste bud cells in the lungs" are really strange because these cells are usually not in the lungs. "The closest virus usually exists in the trachea" [1 1 amazing facts about the respiratory system].
Reconstruction after influenza Vaughan and his colleagues are studying the long-term effects of severe lung inflammation caused by influenza A, an influenza virus that causes virus infection and spreads among every virus in winter. In a paper published in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung, Cell and Molecular Physiology on March 25th, Vaughan and his colleagues wrote that about 500,000 people worldwide die of influenza A every year. Many people who have recovered have long-term lung function problems.
Researchers have previously found that the loss of lung function is likely to be related to the way the lungs are rebuilt after being seriously damaged by infection. After the virus is cleared, some cells called lineage negative epithelial progenitor cells will proliferate in the lungs. They seem to be helpful to rebuild tissues, but many of them form abnormal cell types and cannot complete the typical work of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange in lung tissues. In the new study, the researchers infected mice with influenza A virus H 1N 1 Then, the researchers euthanized the mice at different time points. Continue to study how their lung tissue changes over time.
On the contrary, they found that the lungs were the focus of immune activity after infection. However, strangely, there is a strong "type 2" immune response, including specific immune cells that are known to have strong reactions to parasites and allergies unrelated to influenza, so they began to look for a special type of cells. These cells are called cluster cells, brush cells or isolated chemosensory cells, and should not be in the lungs. But in mice after influenza, they are everywhere.
These cells belong to the same type as those found in taste buds, and they can detect bitterness. When researchers use these inappropriate cells with bitter compounds, they become wild, grow and trigger inflammatory reactions. The researchers also found that inappropriate taste bud cells came from negative epithelial progenitor cells of the same lineage, which are known to rebuild nonfunctional lung tissue after influenza.
Vaughan said that this discovery is exciting because the number of chemosensory cells isolated from asthma patients and nasal cavity has increased. Polyps are non-cancerous tissues related to inflammation in nasal cavity. Vaughan said in the statement:
"These latest findings may be related to type 2 inflammatory diseases such as asthma and nasal polyps after respiratory virus infection." . He added that this finding can explain why children with severe respiratory infections are prone to asthma in the future. Researchers now plan to examine human lung samples to confirm that the same cells appear after the flu.
1 1 amazing facts about the immune system 6 influenza vaccine fictionalized nine kinds of the most deadly viruses on the planet, which were originally published in Life Science.