ABSTRACT
The conducting airways have long been known to contain two sources of stored mucins: goblet and mucous cells (Figure 1).* Mucous cells reside in the secretory tubule epithelium of airway submucosal glands, which are present in the large, cartilaginous airways. Goblet cells, in contrast, reside in the superficial epithelium of the large, cartilaginous, and the small, noncartilaginous airways. Whether goblet and mucous cells represent a single cell type with a wide distribution, as well as whether they are distinct cell types with independent regulatory mechanisms and different distributions, are questions relevant to understanding the pathogenesis and the successful treatment of obstructive airway diseases. This paper examines the origins and properties of goblet and mucous cells in the airways and the roles in vivo and in vitro experimental models have played in efforts to elucidate their relationships. * We define “goblet cell” and “ mucous cell” as the mucin-secreting cells in superficial and submu cosal gland epithelia, respectively, consistent with the trends expressed in recent literature. Readers should be aware that other authors, at different times, have used these terms with other specific meanings.
