N-Methyl-D-aspartate Receptor Excessive Activation Inhibited Fetal Rat Lung Development In Vivo and In Vitro

Figure 6

Effect of NMDA on histological structures of cultured fetal rat lungs (hematoxylin and eosin staining, upper rows: 200x magnification, lower rows: 400x magnification). In air group, airway tubes were lined with a highly columnar epithelium at 48 hr, and epithelial cells differentiated into a cuboidal epithelium at 96 hr. After administration of NMDA, the differentiation of epithelial cells from a highly columnar epithelium to a cuboidal epithelium was not visible. Also, with longer culture durations, the histological structures of NMDA-treated explants became irregular.