It takes a lot of nerve to form the lung alveolus.

Abstract

Autonomic nerves innervate the lungs, but how these nerves guide lung development remains unclear. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Zhang etal. reveal that myofibroblasts and developing nerves cross-communicate through neurotrophins and neurotransmitters to drive alveologenesi-and that planar cell polarity signaling is critical to this process.