The Rabbit as a Model for Studying Lung Disease and Stem Cell Therapy

Table 3

Anatomical comparison between the human and rabbit lung.

Anatomical structure	Human	Rabbit	Reference(s)
Respiratory bronchioles	Present	Absent	[13]
Tracheobronchial capillary bed	7 capillaries/mm	5 capillaries/mm	[14, 15]
Branching pattern	More symmetrical 25 generations	Less symmetrical 32 generations	[16–18]
Lung expansion rate	26 folds	20 folds	[16, 17]
Mucus producing cells	Submucosal glands and goblet cells	Only goblet cells	[19]