Neuroendocrine cell

This is best supported by the presence of an oxygen-sensitive potassium channel coupled to an oxygen sensory protein in the rabbit lumenal membrane.

They are hypothetically involved in regulating localized epithelial cell growth and regeneration through a paracrine mechanism, whereby their signaling peptides are released into the environment.

In the fetal lung, they are frequently located at the branching points of airway tubules, and in humans are present by 10 weeks gestation.

Peptides and amines released by PNEC are involved in normal fetal lung development including branching morphogenesis.

The best-characterized peptides are GRP, the mammalian form of bombesin, and CGRP; these substances exert direct mitogenic effects on epithelial cells and exhibit many properties akin to growth factors.

This area controls most anterior pituitary cells and thereby regulates functions in the entire body, like responses to stress, cold, sleep, and the reproductive system.