A radioautographic study of the neuroepithelial bodies of the lungs in fetal and neonatal rabbits.

The neuroepithelial bodies (NEB's) of the lung of 29-day-old fetuses and 1-day-old rabbits, under the conditions of this study, neither take up 3H-thymidine nor undergo mitosis. Also the NEB's are not derived at these times from proliferations of other kinds of epithelial cells in the intrapulmonary airways. It is, therefore, suggested that the difference in numbers of NEB's previously observed by us, between the 29-day fetus and the 1-day-old rabbit, is due either to regranulation or acquisition of argyrophilic material by the NEB's or differentiation of other epithelial types. It is concluded that the NEB's are composed of well differentiated cells, which have a greatly reduced capacity to undergo mitosis.