Ultrastructural evaluation of type II pneumocytes in the hypoplastic lung of rabbit fetuses induced by oligohydramnios

Aim: The present study was carried out using electron microscopy to evaluate the expression of lamellar bodies in type II pneumocytes of fetal rabbit lungs with hypoplasia induced by oligohydramnios. Methods: Using an amniotic shunting rabbit model, the lungs obtained from 32 fetuses, including 16 experimental fetuses (shunting group) and 16 control fetuses (control group), were used for electron microscopic studies. At least 250 type II pneumocytes per fetus were photographed. The number of lamellar bodies per type II pneumocyte was counted. Results: The number of lamellar bodies per type II pneumocyte of the shunting group was consistently and significantly less than that of the control group (5.49 ± 2.07 vs 7.58 ± 2.08; P