Mechanosensitive Responses of Resident Alveolar.

We report the unexpected finding that sessile AMs were exclusively located in immobile microniches of alveoli and therefore did not stretch during lung expansion. Nevertheless, following expansion there was Cx43-mediated Ca communication with the AE, causing cCa increases in sessile AMs. Although further studies are required to evaluate the potentially proinflammatory responses induced by this Ca response, we propose Cx43 of sessile AMs might be a therapeutic target to mitigate lung expansion-induced ALI.