Abstract

Biopsies of bronchial mucosa frequently show a thick layer of amorphous eosinophilic material lying in the superficial portion of thc lamina propria. They resemble deposits of amploid or solar changes in the dermis of skin. Orcein stains show this layer to have the same staining properties as elastica. At first it seemed that the amount of elastica was grea est in elderly patients with cancer of the lung, but examination of infants’ tracheas and bronchi has shown a thick layer of elastic fibres to be present even at birth. The fibres are most prominent in the posterior wall of the trachea and large bronchi whcre they are unsupported by cartilage. In these areas the fibres are arranged in longitudinal bundles which form ridges visible to the naked eye. Gland ducts open into the grooves between the ridges. At the carinae and in several divisions of the large bronchi some of the ridges turn into one division and some into the other. The author is now studying these elastic fibres to determine the influence upon them of age and disease

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